Thrifty Thursday, frost and those birds are back

Thrifty Thursday this week instead of Frugal Friday because tomorrow is library van day - at last - so my library books will feature in tomorrows post,

Have their been any thrifty things this week? Not many

• We took a flask and snack to hospital on Tuesday to save using the cafe ( and thank goodness we did as we were there 2 hours longer than we thought.)
• Free heat and hot water as usual
• Used home grown leeks, squash, Brussels sprouts, apples and beetroot plus apricots from the freezer.
• Home made bread all week
• Several extra portions of various dinners have been popped in the freezer, handy for me when Col is in hospital. 
• Got a discount on feed by asking around for who wanted bird peanuts/feed to make up to 10 sacks

I can't think of anything else.

Today was a big bake day and Col choose sultana buns, I choose coffee sponge and by mutual agreement cheese straws were made too. Some are for the weekend and the rest have gone into the freezer. Plus sausage rolls for dinner and to put in the freezer and 2 mince pies with a scrappy bit of puff pastry that was left over from the sausage rolls. A few years ago that little bit of pastry would have been chucked out but not any more!

We rarely get  a hoar frost, the sort that leaves everywhere covered with  frosted edges, perhaps because the air is dryer or it's windier nearer the coast.This morning just for a while everywhere sparkled and I snapped the sage

and the conifer

but it was soon gone and we had a grey morning until the sun appeared.

I quickly grabbed the camera again later because the redpolls were back on the niger seed feeder and facing the right way to see the colours. They'd gone a second after clicking so only just in time.

Many thanks for comments yesterday, regarding which I have a dilemma. When I was posting just 2 or 3 times a week I had time to answer comments individually. Now I'm posting everyday I seem to have to choose between answering comments or reading other peoples interesting blog posts or spend longer on line which would leave me no time for reading which would be a Disaster! I do read all comments of course but what to do about answering??

Which reminds me to reply to Phil - Knodishall church is thought to be  built  in the 15th century around  an earlier Norman building. The tower is 15th Century, the buttresses 19th century but there are much later improvements. There is no record of a village around the church but it seems that the village as it is now grew in the 19th century around a green and mill  ( a mile away) rather than around the church. The Victorian primary school ( now a house) is actually half way between the church and the newer village almost as if they hadn't decided which part was more important.

Oooops nearly forgot to welcome Marjorie, follower 344 in the google pictures

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Wednesday odds and ends

Thank you to everyone who said that the birds in yesterdays photo were Redpolls, we would never have thought of that because the picture in our RSPB bird book shows them more highly coloured.We looked on line at various pictures of Redpoll some looked to be a good match to our birds and others different. I've not seen them back today to get another look.

When we got home from Ipswich yesterday the house seemed extra cold despite the Rayburn having been banked up with coal  and even after we'd got the living room wood burner going I still couldn't get warm. I went upstairs a few hours later and found out why - I'd forgotten to shut the bedroom window when I got up- stupid woman!

Bread baking today, just 3 ordinary white loaves as the cheap malted wheat  flour that came from Approved Food several months ago has come to an end. I've also made 3 pastry cases and filled one for a quiche for lunches for the next few days plus I made a veggie curry for dinner tonight. We've not had curry for weeks due to it giving Col awful indigestion but as the indigestion is now bad all the time he said we might as well give it a go, and everything tastes odd to him at the moment anyway - yet another side effect of chemotherapy.

The car was due for it's MOT test just when he is next due in hospital so he took it in early and went this morning and thank goodness it passed, one less thing to think about. I start to feel panicky when I think of all the things that have got to be organised for moving but the box packing is going along nicely and we have quite a lot of empty bookshelves.

This afternoon was bright and sunny so I headed out for a walk, haven't walked far for a couple of months so I just headed down to the church via a field path, took a couple of photos to share on here and came back again.

Knodishall - St Lawrence church - a church without a village as there are just 4 large houses close to the church and the actual village which is known as Knodishall should really be called Coldfair Green and is just about a mile away. Our road, although part of Knodishall is almost a separate hamlet of 12 houses just over half a mile from the church.

I suppose at some time these buttresses were added all down this side to prop up the wall. I zoomed in on the  waterspout on the top of the tower and now I can see where someone got the idea for The Simpsons!

The church is quite small and stands in a lovely churchyard. Our son and fiancee plan to marry here in December so we will be back for that.

Welcome to Carolyn who is new to following.

Back tomorrow
Sue

Advent 15 Christmas Fairs

We live between 2 villages and each  has a Christmas fair to go to. The first is the Cancer Research Sale in Knodishall village hall  on the last Saturday in November. It's always well supported and they have a huge prize drawer, a table of bits and bobs, books and then other village charities have their own stalls there too. They also have mulled wine and mini mince pies - for free! Very Festive and packed full of people.

I biked down and came home with a basket for a hamper -50p. 6 gold crackers- £1. Old Spice After Shave for Col's dads Christmas hamper - 50p. Some tiny heart shaped candles for someones Christmas  present - 50p and the River Cottage Veg book for £1.
 They raised over £3,000. Of course I didn't win a price in the draw - never do.

On the other hand, it was the Christmas fair in aid of the village hall in  Friston last Saturday and it's so sad to see how it has shrunk since we came to live here. Just  a few elderly ladies with a few donated items for sale and some cakes. 20  years ago it would be packed out with people, holly,  mistletoe,cakes,crafts and decorations for sale. I didn't buy anything or take any photos - too depressing and once again didn't win a price in the draw!

Knodishall is a thriving village with a primary school, church, playgroup, chapel, pub, shop and village hall. Friston is closer to the up-market seaside resort of Aldeburgh and is two-thirds second/ holiday homes and even though several new homes have been built they've almost all been sold to be used as second homes or to be let as holiday homes. There is a church, pub ( open and shut several times over the last 15 years -open again at the moment) and the village hall and that's it. I've said before that I'm the only person who uses the library van when it stops there, it seems to be a dying village and at this time of year when the holiday cottages are empty it already looks dead.

Thank you for comments yesterday and Welcome to Frugal Fingers and sumdayiwillc,  new followers, blogger won't let me see if you have a blog today so let me know if you have.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

On my bike to town

Two things broke on the last day of the year. One was the rubber ring on my Kenwood liquidiser, that left a lot of celery soup on the top of the mixer rather than in the liquidiser jug - a bit messy. The second was the washing line, luckily the washing was dry and quickly rescued. A new rubber ring was ordered off ebay for £2.50 and today I got a new washing line from Leiston hardware shop, it was £5.49 which seemed quite a lot more than last time. I hope it lasts us out.

As we only needed milk and the washing line and a couple of other bits I decided to bike to town, only a 5 mile round trip but further than I'd cycled for several weeks.
 The nice thing about going to Leiston by bike is taking a short cut through a narrow lane that we rarely drive through.


 The village that we now call Knodishall is a mile away from the The Church of St Lawrence and should really be called Coldfair Green. There are only 4 large houses and a Gardeners cottage along this little road which was the original village of Knodishall. Our road of houses is half a mile further from the village and there is also a hamlet of a few houses called Knodishall Green another half mile further away. It's very confusing for visitors to find that Knodishall is spread       over a wide area.
 




Opposite the largest  house in Church Road - Knodishall Place       ( up for sale a while back at 2.5 Million Pounds!) is this big pond. There are all sorts of stories about maids who drowned themselves or carriages that turned over into the pond with ghosts haunting the lane. I've never seen anything except squirrels along here - thankfully.






My first book of the year is finished, it was one of my Christmas gifts and took me a few evenings to read.

This is the memoir, covering a year or so, of Jane Christmas (Canadian Travel writer now living in London) she wants to find out why she has sometimes felt she should be a nun. She stays in various convents testing and questioning her faith. The reviews on Amazon range from "Boring" to                " Brilliant"  but I enjoyed it. An earlier book by the same author -  The Pelee Project - has now been added to my wishlist.

While I was out, Col was shifting wood from where it's been laying for 2 years in a heap outside into the open fronted cart shed. It will dry off in here ready for cutting when we get to the end of the scrap wood heap.
 This afternoon we got some compost on the row of raspberries in the garden. Another job ticked off the gardening list.

Thanks for the many comments yesterday and welcome to Winters End Rambler and Claire Jessica who have clicked the Google Button and Mrs L Hughes on Bloglovin'.

Back Tomorrow
Sue