Resolutions

Happy New Year!
Now is the time when many of us decide to have a look at our lives and make a few promises about how we are going to change them for the better. For many these promises will involve
a) Food - less of the eating of
b) Exercise - more of the taking of
c) Personal skill - a new one, the developing of.
All of these things are very worthy and I have all of them on my list, but this year I also want to make a promise to the planet and I hope you might join me.
If you look to your right - no, not in your room, on the page, silly, you will see I have acquired a new button. I have adopted Baglady. Underneath you will find a link to her site and the pledge she is asking us to make. It would be great if you could join in. Tell her who you are and that you are willing to offer her a virtual bed for the night and we can see how far she manages to travel over the year. I was introduced to her by Karen at The Rubbish Diet and thoroughly recommend her blog too for more inspiration
If you look back at my post near the beginning of December, "Suggestions please" you will see the problem I have had in coming up with a suitable pledge. Unfortunately my dodgy back precludes serious gardening, or heaving buckets of water out of the sink which knocks some of the suggestions on the head but one thing that was suggested and which I am going to look into and will report on in due course is solar battery chargers.
It seems to me that it can be very difficult sometimes weighing up the extra miles I drive in order to get to a shop that sells unpackaged or more eco-friendly goods. One person suggested freecycle but we did use that when we moved and had some problems with people, plus the fact that what I mean when I say we save things to take to the dump is things like old batteries, and those flippin' low energy light bulbs (and can anyone give me the definitive answer about whether the low energy use really outweighs the poisons used in their manufacture?) By the way, the other problem with the light bulbs is that we found we have to have more burning to give us any decent light in the evening so that's another impossible calculation. So I am going to have to research all that as well. Now I know I am sounding negative and I didn't mean to, but I can't help feeling it isn't all as simple as it seems.
So my rather vague pledges were to start looking properly at where foods come from and to go local or East Anglian first, English second, UK third and Europe fourth and to replace bulbs as and when with low energy (subject to still being able to see my way round the house and read) Read my earlier post HERE More thoughts and suggestions welcome!

Surprise!

I had a proper Christmas present this year - from my friend Heather at Random Ramblings.
We, that is my husband, my mother and myself, gave up doing presents a few years ago because they both started to find it difficult to go shopping in the cold weather. So I buy 2 or 3 little things each and then we each have one thing that is from the other two, but I'm the one that doesn't get any surprises. Mum and hubby did, however, ask me if there was anything I really wanted and between them paid for me to get all seven series of Star Trek DS9 on DVD which I shall be watching over the coming months. Oh dear, my terrible secret is now out!
Anyway, it was lovely to open a package when I genuinely did not know what was inside it. It was a large diary with such a very cheerful cover and it has made me think that maybe 2011is going to be the year I get myself organised.

Every morning I shall look at all those pretty flowers and it will make me feel cheerful too, which is always a good way to start the day. I shall make a book mark with my daily jobs written on it and then check them off on each day as I do them - things like doing my exercises, checking to see if there's a birthday card to send, making sure hubby has taken his tablets (you wouldn't believe how many times there is a cry of anguish at bedtime when he realises he's forgotten them all day - AGAIN!) And although some of you may be shocked that I have to be reminded, I do also need to make sure that I have said my morning prayers and read my Bible every day too.
Of course I shall be trying to lose a bit of weight after a small excess of eating over the Christmas holiday so I will be keeping a check on the calorie intake and the exercise out put and my diary will be the perfect place to record that.
I shall try to have a slightly more ordered routine for the week. Mum's shopping will be much easier now that I have started doing an online order for her to have delivered so I want to have one day in the week when I do her cooking for the freezer and one day in the week when I do our cooking for the freezer and one day in the week when I go over to hers and spend some time with her. I see her on Sundays too when I call in on her before and after church. Mostly I can get all the washing done one day a week, probably when I am cooking too. Housework will get done, probably. Maybe three half days? Which should leave me with some time to do the garden (subject to the weather) and sometime to pay proper attention to hubby other than all the usual things and hopefully a bit of time to go out and do my own thing occasionally and make the effort to keep in better touch with friends and relatives. And blog a bit more regularly. And do a bit of painting and crafting. Oh and maybe I'll get a bit of sleep sometime too!
Happy New Year

Happy Christmas

A virtual Christmas card for all my readers. Watch this space, I hope to be a better blogger next year X

Suggestions please

I am going to accept a challenge - if I can get a few ideas. The challenge is to try to be a little more green and to stop doing something and to start doing something in order to achieve this. My problem is that I am struggling to come up with anything. Now I am not claiming to have a zero carbon footprint so let me explain my dilemma.
We are very fortunate to have a Local Authority who provide us with a recycling bin into which we can put all food waste, both cooked and uncooked, plus cardboard and shredded paper and garden waste and which they then turn into compost which can be bought back at a very reasonable price. We have another bin for the paper waste like magazines thick cardboard, plastic bottles and tins and which they also recycle. I usually buy my fruit and veg from shops where they sell it to you loose in a paper bag. I buy my meat from a proper butcher so the packaging is minimal but necessary. I make my own "ready" meals and freeze them in re-usable plastic containers. I take my glass to the bottle bank.
I walk to the local shops if I can and if I don't have too much to carry back. If I go into Ipswich I use the Park and Ride. Otherwise there is no proper public transport so I have to use my car. I can't turn the heating down because my husband is disabled and feels the cold terribly. In the summer I try to collect the water that I wash veg in, or have to run to get the hot water come through but I don't know what to do with that in the winter. I also think that you need to be careful that you don't forget that the drain needs a good flush of water through it fairly regularly. We don't have a bath in our house (yes, we do have showers!) so we don't get the flush through the drain from that. I wash almost everything at 30 degrees and don't use biological products. If I do a hot wash I make sure I have a full load in the machine. In the summer I hang the washing out but do use the dryer for sheets etc in the winter.
I turn the tap off when I am brushing my teeth. I don't leave things on standby. I am replacing bulbs with low energy as and when I can afford them (although it seems there may be issues about how they are recycled) I have been told that it isn't a good idea to turn them on and off all the time so I am a bit unsure about that. I use the mains rather than batteries where feasible. We even live within a five minute drive of the Municipal Dump and we save things up to take there.
I try to bake in batches so that I use the whole oven, and then freeze some. I foraged blackberries in the autumn and made them into seedless jam. Veg that is getting a bit tired is made into soup.
So, what else could I do, or stop doing, to be that bit greener? As my nana used to say, I am not as green as I am cabbage looking, although that was a different sort of green!

Christmas present and past

I went to a lovely big family party yesterday, without leaving the comfort of my own armchair. Through the magic of the internet and the presence of a small built in webcam on my laptop I was able to talk face to face to several of my relatives who I have not seen for years (and in some cases years and years) I stay in touch with some of them by phone, more or less, and there's always the Christmas card, but, due to circumstances beyond my control, I don't manage to get to the December get together and haven't done for quite a long time. I saw about 15 people over about 45 minutes and it was great to see them. I don't know if they realised just how much it meant to me. We seem to have got a bit isolated out here in the wilds of Suffolk over recent years, every body is getting older and has more immediate family commitments.
We used to have such lovely Christmases when I was little, at least that's what I remember. However, I suspect that, in part at least, that is because I wasn't involved in the preparation. All you do as a child is open the presents and eat the chocolates and play the games. You do not have to cook the turkey and time the dinner and do all the washing up.
We , including the grown ups, used to play a lot of games, like charades and any new member, girlfriend, spouse etc was submitted to the test of certain games where only those in the know knew what was going on. Do "Boots Without Spurs" or "Black Magic" or "Passing the Scissors Crossed" mean anything to anyone?
My Aunt's house was full of people, there were Christmases when people slept on any available bit of floor, that happened at our house too sometimes. And I still have my teddy that my mum and dad gave me when I was about 3 and which was almost as big as me then.

Fruity Mellowness

Now that the summer is officially over and the weather seems to agree with that, I may find a bit more blogging time, in between trying to tidy up the garden and all that other stuff I should have been doing. But I have been blackberrying again and took some photos and did a couple of little montages for your delectation and delight.
It is amazing how much there is along the old farm track that leads from our lane to the new estate and Tesco's I have to admit to feeling rather smug when I see little punnets of blackberries for over £1 for about 4 ozs when I have picked 3 lbs for free
The last lot of bramble jelly didn't last long as it was too lovely with yogurt, or on top of the stewed apple, so this time I will put it in proper jars and hide it until Christmas. One or two favoured people might even get a dollop for a present - now won't that be something to look forward to!
The photos are HERE at Not Cute and Not Funny as they show up better on the wide format.

A Mystery Solved!

Something slightly spooky happened yesterday.
Do you have clear memories of places or events which you cannot place? I have a few and one of them is walking along a badly lit, very long, corridor in a basement, with lots of wires and pipes running along the length of the ceiling and a room where people were sitting a drinking coffee. It is such a clear picture in my mind but until yesterday I wasn't even sure if it was somewhere I had really been or something I had dreamt. Then I watched a programme about the history of The Battle of Britain. It was on a few nights ago but I had taped it. The commentator was talking about a place where German pilots who had been shot down were taken, prior to being placed in camps. The name of the place was Trent Park which is where my father went to Teacher Training College in the early 1960s. I had been with my father several times, when he had to be at college and I was on half term holiday. I recognised the big staircase and entrance hall. And then, on the screen I saw my corridor, as the presenter of the programme walked along it. It did exist! The room had been a student's common room. It was a very odd feeling.
HERE is a photo of the building

Now if only I could pin down when and where and why I helped someone paint an old merry-go-round horse!

What a bad blogger

I'm sorry - I know - I haven't been doing very well, have I?
I am afraid I decided I couldn't keep up with the commitment to Alphabe-Thursday for another 26 weeks but I did promise myself I would try and witter on about something every week and I have failed already. Dismally. As for the arty blog, I haven't done anything for ages. Life has been getting in the way, if you know what I mean. But I will. Promise.

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Purple

It's the last week of Jenny's summer school and the colour is purple. At least I hope it is, I haven't checked, maybe it is mauve, or lilac, or amethyst. Anyway, I decided to spare you my purple prose and send you a couple of purple pictures instead. Oops, it's violet, oh well they still qualify


See what others were inspired to do HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Mood Indigo

A rather short post from me this week as it has been one of THOSE weeks. I have joined up to Spotify and thought I would have a look to see how many recordings of Mood Indigo there are and there are loads. I can't choose which one to suggest. Sinatra, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Mingus, Day, Lyttleton, I could go on. They all have their merits. So I had a look at YouTube as well and decided on This one

Or this one if you want to know the words

More indigo HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Blue

Jenny's summer school is more than half way through now. It is beginning to feel like autumn here already, our summer has been too short this year and I hope it is going to give us a second chance before it gives up altogether. This week we have reached the colour blue
I love the blue of the sky in high summer, I love the blue of cobalt glass, I love the blue of cornflowers. But I don't wear blue very often, and here's the reason why

Something like this little chart hung on the wall of the Art Room when I was in the Sixth Form at school. (Sixth Form is the last two years, aged 16/17 and 17/18) When I started there the uniform rules were very strict. White shirt, navy with a thin blue diagonal stripe tie, navy gored skirt which should touch the floor when kneeling, navy blazer etc etc and the most unflattering pale blue cotton dress for summer. I can't even bring myself to talk about the hat. Anyway, the uniform changed when I was about 15 and then the rules eased off even more and we were told that, within reason, we could wear anything blue or white in our last term. This was the term when we would be doing our final school exams so we were no longer prefects at that stage. And of course, girls being girls, we all pushed the limits of what could or could not be described as blue and so the art mistress put a chart up on the wall and if there was any doubt you had to go and get her to match your clothing against the chart and got into trouble if you didn't coincide with the top line (blues that were blue) but had strayed too close to the next two lines (blues that were greeny blue or mauvey blue) The colours haven't quite come out as I intended but you get the idea. So when I left school I avoided blue because I was just too fed up with it and here I am nearly 40 years later and I still don't choose it!

Maybe I will find something to change my mind HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Green

Jenny's Summer School has reached the colour green. I went out for a walk with the camera and thought and thought of all the things I could say about the colour green. But a picture is worth more than a thousand words. How lucky am I to have this less than 100 yards from my front door!








Now see what other people were inspired to say for the colour green HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Yellow

I'm sorry. I've been sitting here trying to think of something nice and yellow. I've been looking around my house for something nice and yellow. I looked in my wardrobe, I looked at my ornaments, I looked in the sitting room and the bedroom and the kitchen and tried to find something nice and yellow.

I came to the conclusion that I don't like yellow. Then I had to deal with a wasp that came in the window. He was black and yellow. I went shopping and couldn't park where I wanted to because of the double yellow lines on the road that mean I can't park. I looked in my garden. The only yellow there is the grass that is dying because it has been so dry.

Gosh I am looking forward to next week

In the meantime maybe another post will convince me otherwise. Find them HERE

A-T Rainbow Orange

Back at Jenny's Rainbow summer school and the colour is orange. Or maybe amber.
Think traffic lights.
Red is Stop - it ain't gonna happen
Green is GO for it
Amber is pray about it, because there's a chance it could happen. I expect you've heard the sermon that says "God always answers your prayers. Sometimes he says No, sometimes he says Yes and sometimes he says Maybe"

Something that means a great deal to me and which has had a red light on it for a few years has just gone amber. I am not saying what because at the moment I don't want people who know me to keep asking about it, especially if it falls through.

And in case you are wondering I am way too old to be pregnant!

But in a week or six I might be able to tell all so watch this space.

Other oranges
HERE

A-T Summer Rainbow RED

Over at Alphabe-Thursday it is the school holidays but Mrs Matlock, being a hard task-mistress, has given us homework to do so we are now going through the colours of the rainbow. Yes, here in the UK we spell it "colour", I didn't make a mistake Mrs M!

So I thought about the colour red and looked round my house and garden and thought some more and then I remembered that somewhere I had some photos of my old cars.

Let me introduce you to PGT 427E.

I bought this car in 1976 and it was quite old then. It was the first car I owned after passing my driving test. Technically I had owned a Morris Minor before that because I had lent my dad the money to buy it and he drove it and gave me some lessons but it was sold before I was able to drive it on my own.

"Piglet" was a Triumph Herald Estate. It had no heater, no radio, no power assisted anything and rack and pinion steering which was famous for giving it a wheel lock like a London taxi, which meant you could turn it full circle in not much more than its own length. It was therefore a really easy car to park. It had a walnut veneered dashboard though and I loved it. It cost me £80 and I sold it for £25 two years later. Funny how I can't remember the registration of any other old cars but always remember the first

Now I have a little question for my American readers. Is it the case that you do not eat runner beans? Someone told me that you grow scarlet runners like this for the flowers but don't eat the pods and I didn't believe them. Here's one I have grown but the beans aren't setting very well this year, maybe because there don't seem to be many bees about.

HERE is where you can see what "Red" has brought to other minds

Ladies who lunch #2

I know it will come as a bit of a shock to some of you, to find me blogging on a day that isn't Thursday, but I decided that I really must make an effort and as I know a few of you really like your food I thought I would tell you about my lovely lunch that I had today.
I have a friend called Rosemary who lives in Woodbridge. About 20 years ago I rented a room in the house she had then because circumstances had put me working in Woodbridge when I lived quite a long drive away from home and so the room was my bolt hole for times when the weather was bad or I had to work late. Only I liked it so much I ended up staying over quite a lot more than anticipated and joining in the Bible Study that she used to host and we have remained firm friends ever since. We don't see each other very often but now that we have more time we have promised to meet up now and then and today we tried out a new place in Woodbridge called The Moorish Lounge For anyone who knows Woodbridge it's where The Captain's Table used to be.
The weather was lovely and there were several tables outside under a good shady gazebo but we decided to sit inside as the chairs were more comfortable for fuss pot (aka me) If you follow the link you will see the sort of food they do, and their ethos. The web site is very good and worth a read. And the place itself is very good and worth a visit.
We had lentil carrot and something else salad (oh dear, my memory!) chick pea falafel, haloummi and roasted peppers, seared cauliflower with date and anchovies (yes, yes, I know but it really did taste wonderful) and spinach and feta parcels. The rose and vanilla creme brulee had sold out so I had apricot tarte tatin and R had chocolate pot.
It was a tad expensive I think, although I am a bit out of date these days so maybe other people wouldn't think so but it was all scrummy and I would certainly go again

Alphabe-Thursday Black and White

Alphabe-Thursday is about to take its summer holidays and we have been given that end of term feeling with Carte Blanche to post what we will. I have chosen not to go back but to anticipate. The following seven weeks are to be a rainbow holiday and I am really looking forward to that. But I am of the age that grew up in black and white. The television was black and white. The photographs were black and white because colour photogrphy was quite expensive and my dad developed his own films. Even some of the pictures at the cinema were black and white. Life seemed a lot more black and white too, in that you knew what was right and what was wrong. And now my husband has discovered that the new trend is black and white. He used to do a lot of photography with SLR (single lens reflex) cameras that he bought as a young man and he never really go the hang of his digital camera. He has just read an article that tells him that those really in the know are eschewing the digital in favour of the old fashioned film cameras and he has found that it is suddenly possible again to get the film and batteries for his old cameras. Hurray, at last hubby has a hobby!
Goodness knows what other soup you will find HERE this week!

Alphabe-Thursday. Z is for Zebayda

First of all a big thank you to everyone who came to the birthday party last week (Y is for.....) and if you missed it there's still some leftovers in the fridge so do pop in!) Thank you to for the lovely presents.
Now let me tell you about Zebayda
It's curious how things jump into your mind sometimes. I have a very visual memory and pictures suddenly appear behind my eyes and take me back more years than I care to admit. The letter Z (and where I come from we say Zed, not Zee) suddenly took me back nearly 50 years to a place that was then called The Hutton Residential School. I can see myself in a corridor painted that institutional green that many Brits will know and loathe. The corridor was actually a hallway in a large Victorian house and the house itself felt very friendly. The HRS was a place where children from the London Borough of Poplar who came from difficult backgrounds, broken families or who were orphans, were cared for. My mum and dad had befriended a boy who lived there - why is a whole other story which I might find a slot for next time round - and so we used to go there for tea sometimes. I would be sent off to be with the other chldren while my parents had tea with the matron and I was a bit apprehensive as an only child, suddenly finding myself, albeit temporarily, as part of a very big family.
Now Zebayda was the first black person that I ever met. Where I grew up, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, black faces were not commonly seen. Her father was part of a singing group, an English version of The Inkspots, but her mother was dead and so she stayed at the School while he was on tour. She was a year or two older than me and watched out for me when I was there. I never stayed the night but I guess my mum and dad thought it would be an experience to see how they lived in that place. It always felt full of love and I hope that it was.
HERE'S what other people made of the letter Z

Alphabe-Thursday - Y is for You are invited

It's Thursday the 8th July and you are invited to my virtual birthday party. The caterers will be here soon. I have ordered an exotic fruit punch for the drivers and champagne for the drinkers. There will be smoked salmon canapes, vol-au-vents filled with cream cheese and caviar, or lobster in mayonnaise. There is the biggest cheese board you have ever seen in your life and a choice of several wines, spirits, mixers and fruit juices . Salads incude pasta and asparagus, orange and watercress and seared peppers and tomato. There's cold salt beef or ham, and a whole cold salmon which has been dressed in thin slices of cucumber to look like scales. If you fancy something hot there's a mushroom rissotto, a lamb pasanda curry and all the trimmings, or a smoked haddock chowder with crusty multi grain rolls. There are other breads too. For dessert there's a dark chocolate torte, a milk chocolate mousee, ice cream in three different flavours (vanilla, coffee and rum and raisin) and a fruit salad. I've also made a huge cobweb pudding to my Auntie Elsie's recipe, which I posted up on this blog last Friday. And there's cream.
Coffee, liquers, or herb tea. Mints.
Bryan Ferry has got Roxy Music back together just for the event but if you go right out into the extensive formal gardens, past the second fountain on the left, you will find a small chamber orchestra and some comfortable seating where you can get away from the heat and noise and repose calmly in the cool for a while.
I will be wearing my black velvet and the second best diamonds.
So all I want you to do is tell me what amazing and fantastic present you are virtually bringing me!
If you are reading this before I get up in the morning then come back later for the link to other Y's or make your way there from Jenny's blog HERE

Auntie Elsie's Cobweb Pudding

A friend asked for this recipe so I thought I'd share it with you all. Not sure if you can read my auntie's writing so translation underneath!

1lb rhubarb
1 strawberry jelly
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 eggs
pink colouring
Cook rhubarb slowly without water until juice begins to flow, then more quickly until it is pulp. Liquidise, dissolve jelly in water in same pan. Stir into pulp add jam to sweeten and colouring if necessary. Separate whites from eggs beat yolks into rhubabrb mixture. Whisk whites to soft peak and fold in. (Auntie left that bit out!) Pour into glass dish leave to set
The top
3/4 pint double cream
2 levels tablespoons sieved redcurrant jelly
8 large strawberries
Whisk cream spread on top of rhubarb pipe redcurrant jelly in rounds etc like a cobweb, decorate with strawberries