For Future Birthdays and a small disappointment

The other day when the jigsaw was finished I said the plan was to use the table for card making before starting another puzzle.

Here is work in progress............... I seem to make a lot of mess crafting!

 Almost all my craft stuff is stored in boxes on this set of shelves, quite a difference to Fareacre where I had a whole room for craft and office work.

This is what I made last week.
 Cards for ladies using some of the bits in that bargain haul from last Sunday's boot sale

Using odds and ends from the stash

 and making use of a sheet of card toppers free from Craft Creations many moons ago.

I will really miss getting their magazine 4 times a year. They are stopping it after 20 years because of a fall in subscriptions. At £12 a year it was a bargain, with one of their new products included each time, masses of ideas for card making sent in by readers and 10% off all their card making stuff.

Then I made just a few cards for men

 All my card toppers were in a muddle in a big square storage box.

Could never find a thing among all this lot when they were lumped in one box!

 So on Saturday morning I thought I'd have a sort through to see what was there and decided I really needed a better way to store them.
 When it stopped drizzling I walked round to Aldi to get some fruit to take in for Colin and look what they have in this week for £4.99 (and they've also got cutting mats - might go back for one as it would be handy to have another)

 Now I shall be able to see what I've got and the box they were in will become my 'current projects' box and my  current 'current projects' (!) box will store all my Christmas crafting stuff and that will free up a draw in the chest of drawers in my bedroom! In a bungalow as small as this every inch of space has to be well used.

 

And the disappointment?
Nothing crucial...........
I thought I was being offered a copy of a book to review from Dean Street Press who are collaborating with Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow Blog. I got so excited at the chance to read Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck which is being re-printed in October with Scotts special logo and the lovely new jacket picture............but it turned out to be  the offer of an ebook.............and you know what I think about ebooks and "proper" books! Oh well, I shall keep wishing for it on my wish list!

Back very soon
Sue

Not Preparing For Winter and Other News

Several years ago when we lived on the smallholding and I wrote for the Suffolk Smallholders Newsletter, I did a couple of pieces about preparing for winter, mainly written for people new to the countryside. There was a check list to prepare................
 Animal feed, lag outside taps, wood for woodburners, cylinder gas for cooker, coal for the Rayburn, examine welly boots for cracks or holes, warm weather and wet weather gear for outdoor work, emergency stuff in case of power cuts, spare diesel for the car and tractor etc etc.

Oh how much simpler life is in town .............not that I really want a simple town life but Hey Ho! All we have to do is to get the gas central heating boiler checked. That's now been done and Thank Heavens all was well despite the boiler being quite old (but apparently a very reliable make) so bill paid - sorted.  I was a bit concerned that the man would slap a red Do Not Use label on it which is what happened many years ago when we got someone out to repair the grill on a Calor (cylinder gas) cooker. He said the whole cooker was too old, didn't comply to regulations and stuck the label across the door. I'm afraid I just carried on using the hob and oven for several more months until we could afford a new cooker.


Very much enjoyed the above book which I finished while at the beach hut on Tuesday. Certainly doesn't glamourise what Londoners went through during the Blitz or soldiers caught on Malta during the siege. Here's the details from the library website..........
"When war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to give it a miss - until his flatmate Alistair unexpectedly enlists, and the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright and brave, Mary is certain she'd be a marvelous spy. When she is - bewilderingly - made a teacher, she instead finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary. And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, and inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams."

The book finishes with a few pages about the authors grandparents who formed the basis of this fictional story. There is a mention in one newspaper review that he is working on a sequel set in the first years of peace. 


 Then I went to the beach hut again on Wednesday and read some of this

 
The fourth book written by Jill Paton Walsh using the characters created by Dorothy L Sayers. Another well written story. When I worked in libraries all those years ago Jill Paton Walsh was a children's author so I've enjoyed discovering these books for adults and she also wrote four other crime novels set in Cambridge. I've now requested the first of these from the library.

I know parts of the country haven't been enjoying the mini heatwave that we in the east have had this last week. By golly it's been HOT. The grass in the back garden is brown apart from one small bit that's always in shade. Windows have been wide open and blinds closed, in hospital where they don't have windows that open wide, Col has had 2 fans running to keep cool. He does seem to be feeling better again although last time I said that he plunged down and had more problems so I won't say anymore.

Only a couple more days of Paralympics, it has been SO good and I shall be disappointed to go  back to regular TV. I think only in this country would we have a programme like The Last Leg!  BTW am I the only person who isn't getting agitated by Great British Bake Off moving to Channel 4? I've never seen a single episode, although if it was Strictly Come Dancing or Wimbledon tennis disappearing from terrestrial TV to Sky then I would be out there shouting!

Thank you for comments on the last post

Back in a jiffy
Sue

One way to spend £1.60 and an unexpected windfall

 Gladioli from Aldi, a beautiful bargain I think. Although with all this hot weather they didn't survive for many days.

A few weeks back I opened a letter redirected here from Fareacre and found the company sending it were looking for my sister as they didn't have a new address for her. Totally puzzled I read through the jargon and didn't really understand what it was except there seemed to be a small amount of money involved so decided it must be something to do with our late Dad. I passed it on to her to sort out and it seems someone had discovered just over £100 owing to us from somewhere connected to our Dad who died 8 years ago......how strange. So I am in possession of an unexpected windfall of £50.......... and in case a tax man/woman is reading ..............Yes I will put it on my tax return!

Now what to spend it on?

Just think how many secondhand 1p (+£2.80 postage) books it will buy from Amazon!

 Or I could be sensible.

Back Soon
Sue

Just noticed new followers - welcome to you, hope you enjoy reading

Hobbies

Second puzzle of the summer finished and no bits missing - phew, the only problem with charity shop jigsaws is you can never be absolutely certain it's all there until the end.

So I've mended the box, stuck on a label saying 'Complete'  and it's off to the charity shop.

I'm not starting a new puzzle straight away as I want to use the table for a bit of papercraft card making, speaking of which.........look what I found at yesterday's boot sale............a carrier bag full of crafting bits and bobs for £3. I had no idea what was in it for sure until I got home and unpacked although I'd spotted two books and a Framecraft Mirror  to put cross stitch in. There are always some on eBay selling for £8 each but luckily I've found several for much less over the years. I stitched 2 for Sister and Sister in Law last Christmas..... or was it the Christmas before?

When I sorted everything out I found quite a lot of useful stuff including 3 gluesticks, craft papers, a big bundle of silver tissue paper, some silk ribbon, foam glue dots, all sorts of bits that were free on the front of a cardmaking magazine and the mag was there too with ideas for using them. A good £3 worth that's for sure. One of the books and the cup-cake boxes will go to the charity shop. Perhaps someone running a Macmillan Coffee Morning later in the month will find them.
The only other thing I got  yesterday was a new pack of 16 fat wax crayons for small children for just 20p.

 The other day Sue in Wales asked if I had unpacked all our books .......I wish........... but this bungalow is Small and I mean SMALL. We only bought  the bungalow because it was detached, in a quiet part of Ipswich, with room for the caravan and didn't need anything doing to it. Space for over 1,000 books wasn't a priority. Back in January and February 2015 I took photos of all the bookshelves we had at Fareacre, they are HERE  if you want to see them..........13 separate posts!  We had room for all the books on shelves in the hall and under the stairs. I got rid of several books before we moved but there are 22 boxes still packed away. Here there is just room for one bookcase with 5 shelves and a lot of the books on the shelves are Col's that he thought he might want to re-read while he's recovering during the winter.

  The only books of mine that I've already read  are just a few that I couldn't bear to be without. (Hovel in the Hills for instance) Most of those piled up at the front have been acquired by me since we arrived here......whoops!  Annieb asked if we were going to move to somewhere bigger just for the books - yes as using a kindle instead would be far too simple!.............and we need room for the grandchildren! :-)
Now here's a funny thing ........... the other day I said I was reading my first ever Barbara Pym - A Glass of Blessings" so I go to write it down in my book-of-books and lo and behold I've already read "An Excellent Woman". When? Where? I don't remember it at all. Shall have to borrow it and re-read. I do sometimes worry that I read so fast that I don't remember a thing about what I've read. Should I  read everything twice? Although as I don't have to answer exam questions on content perhaps it doesn't matter.

Not a good weekend for the poorly man, a nose bleed lasting 16 hours because his platelets are so low meant a night without sleep. More test results due today perhaps the doctors will find out why various blood counts are not recovering as quickly as they ought to be. Because of rain, being worried enough to visit him 3 times on Saturday and being tired Sunday I didn't get to any of the Heritage Open events that I'd planned on seeing. I wanted to visit Ipswich cemetery and the old Broomhill swimming pool...............next year perhaps.

The weather forecast for here for the next few days is HOT, much  hotter than it should be for mid September. I'm looking forward to going to the beach hut at least one day .......haven't been for a couple of weeks and with children all back at school it will be nice and quiet again...........makes me sound like a grumpy old woman.......Oh yes...........I am!

Back ASAP
Sue

47th out of 47 and 91st out of 91!

Those numbers above are where I am in the reservation lists for the new Alexander McCall Smith in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series  and " The Essex Serpent" it's by Sarah Perry - this popped up on Amazon "Recommended For You", a  new-to-me author, it sounds good - we shall see. As I'm 91st in the waiting list it's obvious that a lot of other people think it sounds good too. Suffolk Libraries have 43 copies so it shouldn't be too long before I get to read it.

My real reason for browsing on Amazon was to pre-order a new book (Tut!). I'm so excited for Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow Blog as the first books he has collaborated with Dean Street Press to republish are available to pre-order now. I've ordered  A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell. and added "Bewildering Cares" by Winifred Peck, another reprint due out in October, to my wish list.

While I'm looking forward to that arriving here is my latest haul of requested library books .

"The Past Is Myself" is a home front biography but from a English woman who married a German lawyer in 1934 and lived in Germany right through the war.
"Everyone Brave is Forgiven" is a novel and also set during 1939/45. Just coincidence these have turned up at the same time,
The other 3 are all crime, two modern and the bottom one is another of the Jill Paton Walsh books featuring Lord Peter Wimsey the character created in the 1920s by Dorothy Sayers. I've now actually read a Sayers original - "Whose Body?". The very first, written in 1923. That's going to be passed onto a friend.
I've still not finished  "How to be a Tudor" and I'm also reading and enjoying my first ever Barbara Pym - A glass of Blessings"

Loving the Paralympics and Gold medals already even though it's only been on for a day.☺ I shall be watching as much as possible and will also catch " The Last Leg" each evening if I can. I'm quite fond of Josh Widdicombe - in a motherly sort-of way obviously!

Thank you for your prayers and kind wishes. If you've seen Col's Facebook page you'll know he has had another slide down the snake in the snakes and ladder game he's on but is back on a ladder again now.

Back in a jiffy
Sue

Autumn Ladder

It's too easy not to be bothered to do stuff now that Colin has been in hospital for 5 weeks and we are both feeling a bit fed up. He was very down in the dumps on Monday (and it seems unlikely he will be home this week after all) and I could easily slip down into a black hole and keep him company. All I can do to cheer him up is to keep visiting, texting and phoning. But I need to sort myself out and I nearly didn't bother to refill my shabby-chic ladder after emptying the summer stuff last month. Yesterday I gave myself a kicking and found a mixed tray of 6 different things at Aldi for £3.99.

That looks better than a half empty ladder.

 The jigsaw is coming along slowly.

 I'm beginning to wish I'd begun the one my sister has lent me rather than this with it's annoying sand, cliffs and trees!

I found a use for that basket I bought from the charity shop a few weeks back. Using secateurs I cut out the cross pieces that divided it into 6 and it has become the grandchildren's book basket. It's got the board books, picture books and rhyme books in to start with. Easy to fetch from the bottom of the wardrobe when needed.

Car boot sales have had very slim pickings lately. With children all back at school the Wednesday morning one is limited to regulars with loads of rubbish, I came home with nothing and won't bother again, and all I found at one last Sunday was another Soduko Book, a new leather purse - mine is falling apart inside and this pretty little jug with poinsettia. It will be a Christmas present - IF I can bear to part with it! ( As well as baskets I also have a thing about jugs- oh dear.)

Back in a day or 2
Sue

Black and White

Meeting up with cousins on Saturday brought back lots of memories of their visits to our house when we were all much younger. Our Dad was a builder so we had a builders yard for a back garden, heaps of sand, piles of bricks, sheds full of  bits and pieces but if we played there we were always in the way. Luckily our Dad built us a play-shed. It was about 8 feet square with a proper sized door and window, kitted out with a table with cut down legs and some stools and a large dolls cot. The kitchen was a plank of wood balanced across an old wooden clothes horse. We spent hours playing in it, I wonder if my cousins remember. I hoped to find a photo of the shed but only found this one of me and my sister with the corner of our play-shed behind us. Funny that it was never a play-house always a shed.

Matching dresses.......good grief! What was our mum thinking of. It's 1964 and I'm 9 and my sister 5 years old in this photo. I can quite clearly remember wearing these dresses on holiday and a small child shouting "Look Mummy.....Twins!" Oh the embarrassment we suffered in our youth!

Lacking pictures of us and our cousins playing at home, I only have these...... All 4 of us on holiday at Scratby on the Norfolk coast in 1961. I'm back left with my sister in front and our cousins A back right with S in front.
( I'm not even sure if Scratby still exists, it may well have been washed into the sea sometime in the last 55 years................55 Years!, where did they go for goodness sake?)

Here we are again visiting our Dad's and their Mother's Aunts house in Nacton on the outskirts of Ipswich in 1968. (I'm back right aged 13 and wearing my trendy mock suede jacket). Visiting Great Aunts and Uncles was a regular Sunday afternoon thing back then. Always extremely Boring...........put me off visiting for life!

Happy days lived in black and white.


Back in a trice.
Sue