February 2nd

From my Country Wisdom and Folklore Diary

There are lots of weather sayings for February many of them connected to the Ancient Imbolc which became the Christian Candlemas, the most well known is

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright

Winter will have another flight

If Candlemas be dark with clouds and rain

Winter is gone and won't come again.

I'm loving this diary, it has sunrise and sunset times for every day so I can cheerfully say that daylight hours got longer by about 15  minutes over this week - Whoopee!

Many thanks for comments on yesterdays post

Back Soonish
Sue

St Pauls Day, a book and Burns Night

January the 25th is St Paul's Day. In the past many weather rhymes were linked to this date as country people tried to predict what the growing year would be like

If St. Paul's Day be fair and clear

It doth betide a happy year.

But if, by chance,it then should rain,

It will make dear all kinds of grain.

And if the clouds make dark the sky,

Then neate and fowls this year shall die.

If blustering winds do blow aloft,

Then wars shall trouble the realm full oft.

In this rhyme neate is an old word for cattle and even politics can be changed by the weather - who knew?

I was pondering on how various days were remembered in the past. Usually because they were Saints days or important in the church calendar.
Now we have days that reflect the importance of money rather than weather.

Black Thursday and Black Tuesday - The 24th and 29th October 1929, when panicked sellers traded 4 million shares, making the stock market crash and the usually said to be the start of the Great Depression.

Black Friday - The day following Thanksgiving in the US. Now used worldwide to signify the start of a mad spending spree leading up to Christmas

Black Monday - October 19th 1987 - The more recent stock market crash

Blue Monday - the day in January when all the credit card bills arrive for the massive Christmas overspend

Black Wednesday 16th September 1992, when the pound sterling was withdrawn from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism

I think I would rather have weather sayings.


The latest book added to my Books Read 2017 list. I read  this quite quickly. It's Elly Griffiths other series- A Stephens and Mephisto mystery. This is the 3rd, set mainly in 1950's Brighton.

The library website says this-On the eve of the Queen's coronation, DI Stephens and Max Mephisto uncover an anarchist plot and a ticking bomb at the same time as solving the murder of a man close to them.

 Elizabeth II's coronation is looming, but the murder of their wartime commander, Colonel Cartwright, spoils the happy mood for DI Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. A playbill featuring another deceased comrade is found in Colonel Cartwright's possession, and a playing card, the ace of hearts: the blood card. The wartime connection and the suggestion of magic are for Stephens and Mephisto to be summoned to the case. Edgar's ongoing investigation into the death of Brighton fortune-teller Madame Zabini is put on hold. Max is busy rehearsing for a spectacular Coronation Day variety show - and his television debut - so it's Edgar who is sent to New York, a land of plenty worlds away from still-rationed England. He's on the trail of a small-town mesmerist who may provide the key, but someone silences him first. It's Edgar's colleague, DS Emma Holmes, who finds the clue, buried in the files of the Zabini case, that leads them to an anarchist group intent on providing an explosive finale to Coronation Day. Now it's up to Edgar, Max and Emma to foil the plot, and find out who it is who's been dealing the cards.

The 9th book in her Dr Ruth Galloway series - The Chalk Pit- is due out next month, the library has loads of copies on order and I'm on the waiting list.

And to anyone with Scottish heritage celebrating Burns' night  - Lang may your lum reek.


Back Soon
Sue

Yesterday + more money saver tips re-hashed from 2013

Yesterday was Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas, a date that featured often in rhymes about the weather, long before the days of weather forecasts.

If ice on Martinmas will bear a duck

The rest of the winter is mud and muck

 

According to my Chambers Book of Days, St Martin of Tours is the patron saint of soldiers he was born into a pagan family and served in the army. After sharing his cloak with a freezing beggar he saw a vision of Christ and was baptised in AD 354. The cloak became a sacred relic and was carried into battle by many French monarchs. When not in use it was stored in a special sanctuary called a chapella (from the old French chape - a cloak) This is where our word Chapel comes from.
A period of warm days often occurs around this time - so true this year and as the ice on the 11th this year was definitely not thick enough to bear a duck then we may be in for a cold winter.......or not! Because another weather say says that if the wind is SW - it was- then it will stay that way until February and that means a mild winter. I'm thinking we might as well just wait and see.

Yesterday was also the day I used my new jelly bag and stand for the first time. After this disaster back in February  I chucked out the slightly rusty metal jelly bag stand and didn't replace it until we were away in Cumbria and visited the Lakeland shop in Windermere. Then it's taken me until now to start the Quince and Apple Jelly using the easy snap together plastic stand. There are little hooks to catch the edges of  the jelly bag so hopefully I won't have the same messy problem again.

I left it to drip all night and will finish it  today, another item for the Christmas hampers I think.
While I was thinking about Christmas I decided to do another collection of goodies for Father in law. Not so many chutneys but a few bought food things added to the homemade. I can't think of anything he needs being well over 80 and quite poorly. Col's brother still lives with his dad and I have no idea what to find for him for Christmas. More food?
Then I got to thinking of all the things I could make for food hampers if I didn't have a garden and loads of produce and made a list which I will add to when I get new ideas, that's really planning ahead!

Also Yesterday Col had a bit more energy and spent a couple of hours sorting through more things that he wants to take with him. For years we've had a lot of stacking bread crates that we used to use  for taking books to country fairs now they will be handy for piling up with tools etc and stacking in the horse box trailer.

My 11th tip for saving money is one we use all the time so it must have saved us a fortune. It is to invest in a flask and take tea or coffee with you on a day out. We actually take a flask of boiling water, two mugs and a tub with coffee and a teaspoon. A bit of milk in a small bottle and we have a drink as good as we have at home. If we are taking lunch too then it's either a home made salad-in-a-box  and two forks when we've got salad in the garden or sandwiches or rolls the rest of the year.
Tip number 12 was on the same lines - Don't waste money on bottled water - stand a bottle of tap water in the fridge overnight to take with you next day. We almost always take a bottle of tap water with us when we go out, often handy.

Probably Back Tomorrow
Sue

February fills the ditches.

In my book of old country weather sayings, the rhyme

February fills the dykes, be it wet or be it white

 features regularly as a popular saying from many parts of the country. It has certainly started like that as we have had horrible weather here for most of the day - cold, wet ( sleet, rain and snow)  and windy but it didn't matter as I spent the morning cross stitching and watching the final of the Australian Open Tennis. Pity Andy M tailed off at the end but at least he was in the final. Col spent the morning working down the road at a neighbours house. The man living there - on his own- has done nothing in the place for years but now needs to tidy up so he can have people there to play bridge. There are about 100 small jobs to do, should keep Col busy for a day or two!

This afternoon it's been darts on TV for him and reading for me and a bit of tidying in the dresser draws.

On days like this Summer and sitting outside on Sunday afternoons seems a long way away.

Many Thanks for comments yesterday
Back Soon
Sue

Blackthorn Winter and Library book photo

One of my books of weather sayings says that there is usually a spell of warm days in March which brings the Blackthorn into flower and this is almost invariably followed by colder days, known as the Blackthorn winter. Exactly right this year with night-time temperatures forecast to be around zero on Sunday and Monday. We will wait a few days before sowing parsnips and putting the broad bean plants out.

A phone call from our son M last week told us that his partner R had got the job she was trying for in Bury St Edmunds so they are hoping to move back to Suffolk before summer. He was waiting to see what was happening with his job with the Archaeology company who had put him on a 4 day week, then back to 5 days and then given everyone else in the company notice. Today he rang to say that the company have gone into liquidation from the end of the month. He might get redundancy money although the debt they owe is to HMRC so there may not be much left!
He has put the word around various Archaeology companies but is willing to take any sort of job that comes up. He managed a stationary shop for a while after finishing Uni and is very good at organising so hopefully he can find something. The job R has got is a good one with a large Suffolk based company. I hope they can get themselves settled in Suffolk so they can see more of friends and family.

Today was library van day but my book haul is poor, and the van doesn't come in April as it clashes with Good Friday. Thank goodness I still have lots left to read from last month and of course there is always the back-up of reading some of the 1000 or so books we own!

Most exciting is the book in the middle - The new one by Elly Griffiths - Yippee!

Lots of jobs done today. Me: washing down the doors on campsite loos and shower, sweeping them
 out, making a cheese and broccoli quiche for tonight, all the egg jobs, sowing nasturtium seeds, normal housework and talking to cats!
C : Fetching another load of topsoil, sealing the lining stuff in the gents loo with PVA, re-painting floors in ladies toilets and the shower and probably several other things - all outside of course!

Many Thanks for comments yesterday and welcome to Lesley, Jennifer and Anne reading  via Bloglovin'. Hope you enjoy hearing about our quiet self sufficient life.

Back tomorrow

February/March Book Reading Link and March Weather Sayings

Linking up with The Year In Books at A Circle of Pine Trees

The books that I read in February were some of these lovely library books

The two I recommend are  The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas and All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

This is well researched going between the present and 1940s India.

Thank you to my Penny Pincher friend Mary for recommending this, as I wouldn't have read it otherwise.

All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard is the 5th and final part of the Cazalet Family Series. Ms Howard died not long after the publication of this book written almost 20  years after the 4th in the series. It is now the 1950s and the family timber  business is about to go bankrupt.

 Thank you to another Penny Pincher friend Alison for recommending these a while back.

My March reading will be from this lot

I'll let you know which were my favourites  next month


The best known sayings for weather in March are probably
March Winds, April Showers bring forth May Flowers
or
 If March comes in like a Lamb it will go out like a Lion ( or vice versa).

March was often called The Month of Many Weathers, but farmers would like it mainly dry according to this saying "A peck of dust in March is worth a kings ransom"

Thanks to lots of friendly folk for comments yesterday.

Back Tomorrow, with news of an interesting car boot find.

February weather sayings + a book reading link

Today, February 2nd is Candlemas Day, a church festival which happens to coincide with the Celtic feast of Imbolc, a day to linked to lambing and new life.
There are many weather sayings for Feb and the best known is probably
February Fills The Dyke
Be it Black or Be it White

This year the dykes ( rivers/ditches/drains) are already full with plenty of black(rain) and no sign here of any white(snow). Half term week is sometimes very cold and snowy so we shall see what happens. Several rhymes tell farmers to check their stores because
In the barn on Candlemas Day 
Should be half the straw and half the hay
In other words there could be half the winter still to come.
And
If  Candlemas Day be fine and clear
Then half the winter's to come this year. 

At the beginning of January I did a list of what food of our own we have available so for the beginning of February this is the list
From Store - Beetroot, eating apples,cooking apples,onions,squash
From The Garden - Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, a little chard, parsley, parsnips,leeks and a few tiny swedes.( purple sprouting broccoli soon)
From The Freezer - Broad beans, sweetcorn, peppers, cooking apples, pears, gooseberries, small amounts of other fruit.
Jam and chutney - As Last Month see here
 

I started reading a new-to-me blog called The Quince Tree ( another lady called Sue- how common we are!) I'm not sure why I haven't added this lovely colourful blog to my reading list before. She has a link to another site- The Circle of Pines - Year of Books. 70 bloggers have linked into this so that means 70 new ideas for reading each month. Sue very kindly explained how to add the link onto my blog - over on the right. So I shall be doing a post  about my favourite book that I have read each month - although I think I might find it difficult to choose!

These are  the books that I brought home from the library van just after Christmas, so these are what I read in January.

My favourites were
James Oswald - Natural Causes, because this is a new author and well written crime.
Angela Thirkell - High Rising, because this is a reprint of a book from the 30's and is very witty.
Jacky Hyams - The bomb girls,  because this is the story of the girls who made munitions during WWII and something I had not read about before.

Below is the picture of library books brought home in January

   I have already read and enjoyed Love Nina by Nina Stibbe. This is non fiction and are letters written by Nina in the early 1980s when she was a Nanny in London. She writes to her sister in Leicestershire, very amusing letters about the children, their mother and the visitors to the house including the playwright Alan Bennett who lives close and comes around for supper quite often.
I've also read The Anne Perry and the Carola Dunn which are both new historical crime fiction in a series. Anne Perry writes well and seriously whereas Carola Dunn's books are much lighter slightly frothy books.
I've already picked up ideas for two other books to order from the library from the Year of Books link, which is good.

We have now had 2 sunny days in a row- good gracious, a rare event!
 

January stores and January Weather

 Up until the spring of last year I wrote regularly for our local Suffolk Smallholders Society monthly newsletter. One year I did a page each month called " Country Days and Country Ways". I used  information from some of my many ( too many!) books of  weather sayings and country traditions.
I thought it would be fun to do the same now and again on the blog during 2014.

So here's a weather saying for the start  of the year

The first three days of January foretell the first three months of the year.

We shall see. 

 Yesterday as the weather was so wet, cold, grey and windy,  I made a start on my plan to clear out some things from the craft room. I filled a boxful with cross stitch kits that I will NEVER do, card toppers that I will NEVER use and other bits and bobs that have been lurking for years. The result only made half a shelf of less stuff. But I felt better! The box has gone upstairs to join our collection of things for a car boot sale.

After lunch, egg collecting and packing. I looked to see what was on TV....... Nothing. Old films and more old films. So when Him Outside came in I suggested we have our first game of Scrabble of the winter.
At the end it looked like this

We use a scrabble dictionary and cheat by looking up words in it before we lay the tiles. It's full of strange words that don't appear in The Shorter OED. We've now discovered that we have a letter Y missing. I think I'll have to make one from something.
 Despite my QUAIL on a triple word, I only won by 1 point.
We need some practice in case we get a chance to play a game with Him Outsides' sister - a demon Scrabble player!

It was good to make the first entry in my new diary - which is just an A4 note pad, I don't like the constraints of a normal diary. ( Although I keep a week to view one in the kitchen for reminders) I need blank pages for planning things, lists etc, and I like to start at the front and at the back!
Yesterday I made a list of all the food of our own we have available here on January 1st.
It looked like this
From Store - Beetroot, potatoes, onions, squash, cooking apples, eating apples.
From the garden - Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, leeks, parsnips. A few lettuce, radishes and salad leaves, a little chard and some golf ball sized swedes. ( + Sprouting broccoli soon)
From the freezer - Broad Beans, sweetcorn, peppers, pears, cooking apples, raspberries, gooseberries, cherries. Plus a few redcurrants and plum tomatoes.
In the kitchen cupboards - Jam - Marrow and ginger, Summer fruits, Plum, Greengage, Gooseberry, Strawberry and Gooseberry.
Chutneys - Pumpkin and pepper, Beetroot and Ginger, Hot tomato, Sweetcorn relish,Green Tomato,Onion Marmalade chutney,Gooseberry and date, Marrow and apple.


 Today after lots more heavy rain overnight, the weather is completely different  with bright sunshine and a clear blue sky and  I soon had  two loads of washing blowing on the line.
 Him Outside was working for the County Council this morning and I was in the kitchen making pies with the remainder of the beef stew we had for dinner yesterday. I cooked up a 2 packs of the meat ( 3 packs stewing beef for £10) used some value carrots from Tesco, and leeks, onions and swede from the garden,  added  stock using a couple of beef oxo cubes, hot water and a can of beer. This was simmered on the Rayburn, thickened with Bisto. We ate this last night with dumplings and Brussels Sprouts. The remainder has made 3 pies, each serving the two of us.  One for tonight and 2 for the freezer. We rarely eat beef so this is the best way to stretch it as much as possible.
Then I did a lot of hoovering and more tidying after which it was lunch time and egg collecting all over again.

I'm feeling a bit left out today as most people in blogland seem to be embarking on New Adventures and New Challenges.  Whereas here we will just be chugging along in our normal simple way.


 Although I do have a cunning plan to save any spare housekeeping towards one of these!

 

The iconic ‘Revival’ DAB radio is a nostalgic 1950s style retro radio with advanced DAB features.


I shall let you know how I get on.

I keep forgetting to say Thank you for lots of comments over the last few days, apologies for not replying to everyone individually also welcome to follower number 115 in the pictures and a couple more people on bloglovin.

Back tomorrow - Keeeeep Frugaling!