The Toy Cupboard is Full

I think I have enough toys in the cupboard to keep small visitors busy. These recent car boot finds will be the last I'll buy for now. First picture from a couple of weeks ago.

Wooden clock and shape lift out puzzles and toy phone, nursery rhyme book and another Little Grey Rabbit book. The baby brush and comb set ready for the October baby and a book for me to add to my WWII collection (what a good thing I typed out the list of all my WWII books so I knew I hadn't got this one). Total spend £5.20p

 Next photo from Needham Market's Huge boot sale on Bank Holiday Saturday

 Wooden bricks and opposites puzzle £1 each. Very old wooden puzzle 50p, bag of pavement chalks 50p (these are very popular with children at other beach huts for drawing on the prom!). The Clean and Green pack on the right are a large pack of table mats that can be coloured in, looked like fun for the future. For myself I found some card blanks, a kit and several pieces of Aida for cross stitch for a total  of £1.60 and 20p for the Wilko make-your-own Christmas gift tags- which is something I usually do anyway using last years Christmas cards - the lady had loads of these packs and I was curious to see what they were. I might make them or they could be put away for the future. 2 old crime books were 25p each and finally if you see a new pair of socks for 50p with your daughters name on then you have to get them even if she is 36!

So having decided NO MORE TOYS for the toy cupboard (obviously books are not toys!), I called in briefly at  a car boot on the way to Crowfield church. A regular Sunday one that I've not been to for years, but it seemed to be dealer type sellers with lots of tat, won't go again.
However I still parted with £1.70p (last of the big spenders!). A piece of Christmas fabric for 20p, 5 new  Hairy Maclary books at 10p each.

I treated the cat to a new bowl for 50p as one of hers is a bit chipped. And finally the brand new boxed set of book and Kipper toy. The box inside is like a little bed where Kipper can sleep with his own blanket. This will make a lovely Christmas present for a small person so not for the toy cupboard but into the Christmas cupboard instead and only 50p, didn't need to haggle on that one! The joy of boot-sales is that there are still a few people who just want to clear stuff out, and of course I looked on Amazon to see the proper price and there were none available because they were first sold in 2005 (where had someone kept this for 11 years?) So looked on eBay where the only one for sale was from the States for £60!!

Hopefully by the time our grandchildren are old enough to need trikes and bigger toys we will have moved to somewhere bigger. I saw a Playmobil (or Fisher Price not sure which) Noah's ark and animals for £5 but decided there was just nowhere to keep it. Still looking out for Duplo (large Lego) with no luck. We have some ordinary Lego stowed away, but the Duplo we had was given away a long time ago. I'm glad we kept a small box of Brio wooden railway, I hope to be able to pick up more bits for it when Jacob and Dot-the-bump are a few years older.

We Think, crossing everything possible, that Colin is finally on the right track. The only problem now is getting his platelet levels (they're the part of the blood that make clots form) to climb as they are not building up as they ought. This has happened after each chemo session all the way through. He is still absolutely exhausted but the doctors are happy with progress.

Many thanks for all your good wishes for him and also welcome to Nagini and Kate who are new followers.

Back very soon
Sue

A Hidden Church

This is one of the ways I kept myself busy this weekend.

If it hadn't had signs for the Flower Festival I would never have found this little church tucked away in the Suffolk countryside, not very far from Ipswich.

All Saints Crowfield, a church without a tower but with a timber framed chancel. A tiny church well over a mile from the village and up a track hidden behind big trees.

My reason for visiting? They had books and jigsaws for sale as well as the flower festival.

Amongst all the boxes of books I found lots that I'd already read or owned so only bought 3. Two Christmas stories for children and the "Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks. No idea what it is but it's set in 1666, the year that the Great Plague reached the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The villagers made the decision to put themselves in quarantine, so stopping the spread of the plague but resulting in the death of 260 people.

 The jigsaw of beach huts had to come home with me obviously!

 Then I had a cuppa and a piece of delicious chocolate cake and a quick look round the flowers inside.

Sorry no pics of the lovely arrangements - it was so crowded inside - because what their ad in the East Anglian  newspaper failed to say was that they were having a service at 10am after which all the people at the service had coffee in the church which they carried around looking at the flowers, making it difficult for anyone else to get around!

THIS is what I would have seen if it hadn't been full of people and flowers.

Home through darkening skies which looked as if we were going to get big storms but only produced a small shower.

Thank you for all your prayers and kind thoughts for Colin. I shall be popping to see him later, he was feeling a bit more "with it" on Saturday.......thank goodness.

Back in a trice
Sue

The other C word

Walking past the magazines in Asda - not buying - I noticed Cross Stitcher Magazine had a Christmas kit for the free gift on the front. Christmas Aaaagh!

Better get started on the hamper gifts then.

When we moved from the smallholding I was very worried that without all our fruit and vegetables there would be no hampers for the 2 sisters and brothers-in-law this year. So I made a list in the front of the diary of things I could think of that didn't involve buying items that were too expensive. What I didn't know about back then was that Aldi had special offers and I would be walking under an overhanging Bramley apple tree on my way to the shops.

First make has been Mango Chutney. The recipe is on the separate recipe page, you don't have to scroll down too far. Yesterday I adjusted amounts to use the 2 mangos in a pack (on offer at Aldi) and the apples I picked up under the tree (had to add one more from the Greengrocers)
Made just enough for 3 jars

BTW hexagonal jars are the most annoying for filling as air bubbles get trapped in the corners and then you have to sterilise a spoon handle and slide it down to release them. I bought a big box full of these jars years ago when I was making chutney to sell and lots are still around, even though I keep giving them away.

Weather here much warmer today than forecast and less rain overnight than forecast too. I went to the beach hut again and then back to visit Colin on my way home, over the last two days he has become very poorly, they are doing more tests to try to find out why he has high temperatures and spells of shivering every day. There must be an infection somewhere. He was about to be wheeled off on the bed  for another chest Xray when I left. He's not eating but drinking plenty so that's OK and has no energy at all, even sitting up to drink a cup of tea wears him out. The doctors said infections are more of a threat than the stem cell transplant. Just have to hope it hasn't affected his heart.
A worrying weekend ahead. Need to keep myself busy.

Back Soon
Sue

So that's what it was!

It is good when you see something and wonder about it and then find out on the news exactly what it was.

When I was taking our youngest home (or it might have been when I picked her up) on Tuesday, we saw this HUGE plane coming into land at what's left of the runways at the old RAF Woodbridge.
Then at the beach hut, there it was again circling low inland from Felixstowe, disappearing from sight and everyone saying "what on earth!"

Watching the Anglia ITV News on Wednesday I found out

An Airbus  and  Here too 

or maybe HERE
or there might be a video below

Depending which link actually works!

Great excitement for plane spotters

Mentioning our youngest reminds me that she has written her story of surviving cancer HERE. Colin has shared her story with several women coping with ovarian cancer that he's bumped into (not literally obviously!) while staying on the Oncology ward and he says it makes them smile. Seeing it all written down I realise how much I'd forgotten or wiped from memory. Our youngest had already moved out from home and it all seemed to happen quite quickly without her ever being really ill. She even moved flats during that time too which is a strange co-incidence with us and our house move in the middle of Col's treatment.


Back soon
Sue

What's Happening at Number 9

I loved watching the Olympics on TV this year. Despite our TV, with it's built in Freeview, being too old to get Red Button and my lap top connection too slow to watch on-line, I still managed to watch a little of most sports and more of others. It's puzzling that we don't play handball in this country, it looks a pretty simple sort of game, not a lot of equipment needed. Or maybe it is played here - who knows.

Now it's back to normal viewing for a couple of weeks before we get another dose of sports with the Paralympics, after that there is Strictly to look forward to. I do hope Col is home before the Paralympics start, things were looking hopeful but another blip with the line (inserted in a vein in the chest for the stem cell transplant) makes me wonder if he'll be stuck there for weeks more. They decided that the line had been in too long and he had to go down to surgery to have it removed, under local unaesthetic. All the time he has been having high temperatures, that come and go randomly and they can't find the reason so it was probably the line. It was January when we first knew what was wrong and here we are nearly at the end of August and this time he's been in hospital for 3 weeks already. Some days I wonder if we will ever get back to normal then I have to give myself a kicking!

 After sorting out all my craft papers, odd bits of fabric, spare curtains and pictures over the weekend, I found enough to fill 4 bags and took them round to the charity shops yesterday morning. Then, because her OH couldn't get away from work early, I picked up our youngest and brought her back to Ipswich for another ultra-sound on dot-the-bump. However the small unborn was laying in such way that she is still not 100% sure that Dot is definitely female so we still might be in for a surprise in 8 weeks time, and the sonographer said she couldn't get a good photo either. We then went up to Col's ward to visit him before I took her home through awful traffic.There seem to be roadworks everywhere round Ipswich and East Suffolk at the moment.

 Today, according to the local weather bloke on TV, was the hottest day of the summer so far. Luckily I was down at the beach hut having a swim to keep cool. The worst thing was getting in the car at the hospital after visiting Col on my way home........Phew

 Has anyone else been watching "Britain's hardest workers", it's all about low paid jobs, an eye opener. I wouldn't want to work for Approved Foods for a start, or on any of the other companies featured. (Just editing in to say that its on all week I think so look for Mondays programme first)

That's what's been happening here at number 9. Not a lot really.

Thanks for comments

Back soon I guess

Sue

English?

Why have so many words had 'ized' added to the end?
So casual workers are now casualized workers.....really?

And when did "gonna" become part of the language .......it's "Going to" "GOING TO"!

Feel better now :-)

Back Soon
Sue

Getting Better + Library Book Photo and Book warning!

What a difference a day makes :-)
All your positive vibes, kind wishes and prayers have worked and our little fella was able to go home, he is now feeding well and not being sick. Col is still feeling exhausted but is drinking more and eating again so that's the first step on the road to recovery.

 My Penny Pincher pen-friend S said she really misses the library book photos, when I would bike home from the library van once a month with a lovely bag of books I'd ordered and take a photo for the blog.
So specially for S I waited a few days before going to the library so I could pick up several of my requested books rather than just one or two at a time.
Here they are

From the top down - Mrs Miniver to re-read after reading the other Jan Struther last week.
The Lanimer Bride by Pat McIntosh, the 11th in the crime series set in 15th Century Glasgow.
Ruth Goodman - she of odd clothes on TV! - How to be a Tudor - A Day to Dusk guide to everyday life in Tudor Britain. I Think I borrowed How to be a Victorian, also written by Ruth a couple of years ago but can't remember reading it so maybe I didn't.
Josh Spero - Second hand stories. Not sure how I heard about this, it's about a man who tracks down previous owners of his second-hand books.
Signal For Vengeance by Edward Marston, the umpteenth book in his railway detective series. They are becoming  a bit same-y so I might read it or not.
Sandlands by Rosy Thornton. These are short stories inspired by the "sandlings" - Suffolk's coast and heaths Area of Outstanding Natural beauty, which we lived on the edge of for 23 years.
The New Homesteader by Bella and Nick Ivins...............see below.............


I soon looked through this book and here is the Book Warning! -
Only read this if you are a wishing for a smallholding/ homestead and have pots of money!
Lovely new book, Gorgeous pictures, but Oh My Goodness, this Self Sufficient family are not short of a penny or two.

Here's the description from the library website -

Ten years ago, Bella and Nick Ivins left the city behind and relocated to Walnuts Farm, high on the Sussex Weald. Inspired by the Modern Homesteading movement, they decided to embrace self-sufficient way of life. 'The New Homesteader' tells the story of their family life on their home farm and provides all the knowledge necessary for anyone thinking of embracing self-sustaining lifestyle and starting their own homestead or urban farm - or even just tending their own little plot to provide a supply of fresh ingredients throughout the year.

Reading this could leave you green with envy.
We had the smallholding but never had the spare cash, now we have the spare cash and no energy for a smallholding!

Such is life :-)

You need a £20 note to buy  this book but if you are hard up borrow it from the library and spend your £20 on something edible, like an apple tree for instance, for the smallholding or garden!

Back Soon
Sue
PS welcome to 2 new followers - Elizabeth and Kitkat
Extra PS Our youngest has started a blog HERE, Wonder if she'll have time once Dot-the-bump arrives! :-)