It's just a small garden but...............

Pushed the publish button by mistake on this post! It wasn't finished so I'll republish later when I've finished the list!
The book post below is really what you should be reading!!

All I Do Is Read

All I do is Read
This ought to be the title of my blog.

We are waiting for Col to go in for the 6th chemo session. Once that's done he will be ready for the last, final and nastiest bit of the treatment for NHL. In the meantime he is having a echo-cardiograph and lung function test. The CT scan showed the blood clot in the lung had gone, one piece of good news.
The weather hasn't been good enough to go to the beach hut, the house is tidy, washing and ironing up to date and the grass cut, so I'm reading

Here are  two books read in the last few days. First,  A presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L Sayers
When she died Dorothy L Sayers left some letters describing what her hero - the amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey - might have done during the war. Jill Paton Walsh used these letters as the basis for this novel.  Although I've not read any of the original Sayers books (why?) I enjoyed this. A well written story.

Second The Shepherds Life by James Rebanks.

Flagged up as 'The surprise Hit of the Year' this is a lovely book about what life is like for a third generation sheep farmer on the fells of Cumbria. James Rebanks was a failure at school - he just wanted to be out with the sheep and his Grandad. Several years later he discovers that he is actually clever enough to go to university and sets his sights on Oxford.
Now, as well as being a prize winning sheep farmer he works for the World Heritage Sites part of UNESCO.
The farming year from shearing to lambing and through harsh winters is told from the point of view of someone who has always loved the area and always knew he had to keep farming the Herdwick sheep that are specially bred for the landscape.





A welcome to someone over in the Google followers, not sure who, maybe Jules? Thank you for clicking the button. 

I picked up more books from the library yesterday, so better keep reading.

Back in a day or 3
Sue

A Whole Lot of Random Stuff

First of all, apologies for my unexcited response to the Liebster award last time. My excuse? - I am sometimes grumpy!

I was pleased about a snippet of news heard the other day, - The RSPCA have a new head bloke and he has said he wants to take the organisation back to what it was started for - using the funds that people donate to them for protection of cruelty to animals. They spend millions every year calling out vets where they are not needed and I can give you an example.
A friend of ours rents a field one end of which is beside a main road, here he keeps ponies and cattle, he's a bit of a wheeler-dealer but never neglects his animals. He has an elderly donkey in this field that likes to lay down or sit like a dog - and every now and again some " helpful" person will ring the RSPCA and say there is a neglected donkey dying in a field.
They call up a vet and our friend who all meet in the field, where our friend demonstrates that if the donkey wants to get up ( like when a bucket of food is waved under his nose) he is up and walking in no time. The vet says there's obviously nothing wrong and leaves but the RSPCA person has to justify the call so spends hours grilling our friend  " There's no water supply" - Yes there is, it's at the other end of the field. "There's a piece of rubbish in the field" - Yes the field is beside a main road - people chuck rubbish in - our friend clears it when he finds it and eventually.... " A feed bucket has a crack in it". The RSPCA person says he will have to report this and keep our friends name on record. Our friend cannot speak to the RSPCA  or find out what details are kept on file about him - they are not obliged to tell anyone what information they have, they can prosecute him without him knowing why. He is now listed in EXACTLY the same way as another farmer who left animals to die, didn't remove them from the building, had no paperwork for his cattle and had been banned from keeping livestock before anyway. Fair?

On Saturday we went to visit my sister and brother-in- law in their new home now they've moved back into Suffolk. They are in the village just up (down?) the road from Col's dad and brother, also the same village Col's Nanna and Grandad lived in when they were alive and not far from where we lived between 1980 and 1992 so we know the area well! They have lots of things to do in the house but will soon get it sorted I'm sure. On the way home we (just me really, as Col went in the hardware shop over the road) called in HERE. This wonderful treasure trove of pretty things wasn't here when we lived in Cotton and Bacton, which is probably a good thing! If I didn't already own several jugs, I might have been tempted by this

Their website only shows a fraction of their stock and at Christmas they seem to cram in even more bits and bobs. ( Note for Sadie-There's Lots of Pink and Gold things there! ) I didn't buy anything in the end and Col just picked up Duct Tape and a Carbon Monoxide alarm from across the road.

I came home from my sisters with this, which until I got my stitch picker and needle and thread out, said 2012. I made it for them when they moved house 4 years ago, so it's now been updated and makes me feel less guilty about not getting around to making them a 'New Home' card this time round!

Did you watch the institution that is the Eurovision Song Contest? We watched a bit but it was pretty bad and I went to bed way before the end. I was surprised next day to hear who the winner was (really?)and not surprised that UK rolled in 3rd from last!

On Sunday morning we went to our nearest "car boot sale", this is in quotation marks because it is the most pathetic, full of tat and rubbish boot sale that I have ever seen. Shan't bother again that's for sure, my bag came home empty, no good going to sell books there as most of the buyers were not speaking English! ( Oh- controversial! and un PC)

I've had great fun going through the bibliography from the back of The Button Box book. Several of the books listed I already own and others I've borrowed and read, but there were many more that have now been highlighted as possibles to borrow from the library and somehow four books that the library didn't have and were just 1p (forget the postage!) from Amazon jumped into my virtual basket - and will be on their way soon - Oooops.

Look out for a TV programme starting on Friday - based on the  book by Nina Stibbe about her time as a Nanny in an unconvential 1980s London household. The book was funny and a good read so hope the mini series is just as good.

Monday was quiet, the meter reader came to read the meters and I couldn't remember where they were! Duh. It will be our first gas/electric bill here - it will be a shock I think after not paying for heating or hot water for 20+ years.

Thanks for comments on the last few posts.
Back in a trice
Sue

That Liebster Award

I've been trying to avoid it for 3 years! but I've been nominated for the
It's a bit like a chain letter and I think it was really meant for people to flag up new blogs they have come across and to share with others.  Anyway, Thank you Sheila at Life's Too Short........ !




Here are the questions Sheila asked

1. Your favourite way of eating potatoes?

See Q 10.

 

2. Favourite craft.....past or present?

Papercrafts for speed  or cross stitch and tapestry for effect

 

3. Skirt or trousers?

Trousers, leggings and shorts . Def Not skirts

 

4.Favourite room in your house?

Haven't got one in this small bungalow, I'll get back to you on this when Col's better and we move again ( yes I mean it.......move again!)

 

5. Carpet or wood/laminate for your floors?

Been there, done that on laminate and have gone back to carpets for the living and bedrooms

 

6. A book you have read more than once?

The Cottage Garden Diaries by Fiona Houston

 

 7. Your favourite dinner from school days?

I loved most school dinners ( a very strange child)

 

8. Long, mid length or short hair?

Very, very short

 

9. Your favourite ice cream flavour?

Haven't really tried many, may have to try all the ones in the Asda freezer section so I can let you know!

 

10. Least favourite vegetable?

See Q 1! 

I won't nominate more bloggers as I think it's already done the rounds of the blogs I read. But if anyone wants to answer a new set of questions and keep it going

Here are 10 more for you

1.  How many different homes have you lived in?

2. The first record/CD you can remember buying?

3. A memorable holiday in this country?

4. Favourite job if you could choose?

5. Worst ever road journey?

6. Last meal out? 

7. The station your radio is usually tuned into?

8.The colour most featured in your wardrobe?

9.The oldest thing in your house?

10. Best boot sale/jumble sale/charity shop bargain recently.

I'll leave them with you, just copy the Logo, answer the questions, nominate more bloggers, set some new questions and see what happens.

Back Soon

Sue

As requested - a book review of The Button Box

Each button in Lynn Knight's button box tells a story.
I'll quote from the library website

"

An inlaid wooden chest the size of a shoe box holds Lynn Knight's button collection. A collection that has been passed down through three generations of women: a chunky sixties-era toggle from a favourite coat, three tiny pearl buttons from her mother's first dress after she was adopted as a baby, a jet button from a time of Victorian mourning. Each button tells a story. 'The Button Box' traces the story of women at home and in work from pre-First World War domesticity, through the first clerical girls in silk blouses, to the delights of beading and glamour in the thirties to short skirts and sexual liberation in the sixties."

I had already read and enjoyed " Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue, The Story of an Accidental Family" which is the story of 3 generations of adoptions in Lynn's family. So I guessed this new book would be just as readable, and it was.
The amount of research that was done for this book is amazing - books, magazines, film and TV - there are dozens of quotes. The author says" Some of my research was an indulgence, enabling me to read and re-read many memoirs,autobiographies and academic accounts". All her reading has made a fascinating story of how fashion has shaped women's lives and vice versa.
She has listed all her resources in a brilliant bibliography, and I intend to photo copy this list before the book goes back to the library so that I can track down several that sound interesting. I'm also going to have a look through the buttons in my button tin - some were from my mums button tin but also many older ones bought years ago from a jumble sale.

This book is definitely worth reading.

Back Soon
Sue

Chemo cycle round 6..........

.................not quite yet.
Col was due in for the 6th chemo session today but that's been postponed until next week while they do some investigative work to find out why he is still short of breath. So it's another CT scan today instead. He  felt well enough to get out into the garage yesterday  to sort some of his workshop stuff, he's been wanting to get that done for weeks. The garage has a pitched roof and some boards across the beams so he's been able to put a lot of stuff up out of the way. I can now get my bike in and out without tripping over

I picked our first "harvest" this morning ready for our lunch - a colander full of salad leaves, all from 2 small troughs and plenty left too.

 Then I walked down to the charity shop, to take a few more bits in and found a book of Sudoku puzzles for 50p which was a handy find as I've only got 5 left in the book I'm working through. I like giving my brain a work-out over breakfast every morning.

 Not much else has been happening here at the bungalow, which is why I haven't posted for a few days. Lots of reading  and TV watching - loving the Invictus Games.

Welcome to Roses,Lace and Brocante - a new follower, but still numbers are stuck at 353 so 1 in and one out again.

Thanks for comments recently
Back in a day or two
Sue

In which we enjoy some warmth

What a beautiful Sunday, of course we went to the beach hut, it would have been silly not to.

We solved the walking to the loo problem at the beach hut by borrowing a small wheelchair from Colin's sister, she had it in a shed at her house to use when their Dad visits and she can push him down the lane to visit neighbours, but as she said they could always go by car on the odd occasion  this happens and we won't need to borrow it forever - We hope.
There are a few  steps on the way to and from  the car park to negotiate but he can get out for those and pushing him up the slope is a good work-out for me.

Here is another glimpse of beach hut life to tease you. The hut came complete with the cushions, so I just took  the covers off and brought them home to wash. There is a storage box/seat each side of the hut and these have long foam filled cushions. Unfortunately when the covers of these were washed they shrunk and  I had to cut an inch off the width of the foam to get it back in the covers and even then they are a bit of a tight fit.

Poor Col has to stay covered and in the shade due to the chemo but he prefers the shade anyway, it's me who likes to soak up the sun - suitably covered in a high factor sun cream of course. Luckily the hut also came with wind break, a wooden frame to fit the windbreak into so it can stand on the concrete forecourt and a parasol.

I feel so lucky to have spotted it for sale and it's so good to have the time to use it after all our busy, busy years on the smallholding and campsite.

Back in a jiffy
Sue