Bloggy stats

Every now and again I have a look at the stats just to see what's what.

Below is a weird happening in page views, I think that's what you would call a spike!




In Jan 2016 I had  71,140 page views, more than any other month


What was happening in January 2016?

Colin was diagnosed with cancer, was it this that made everyone look or was it because I posted on 29/31 days or was it because it was winter and everyone had nothing to do except peruse blogs?

Then there was that odd month with dozens of mysterious page views from Russia............ that made the Russian bit of the all time map turn green






Although  on a normal day  it looks like this


According to one bit the most page views over all time are......

30 Ways to Save £1-- Day 30 + 50p for Christmas de... 30 Nov 2013, 17 comments	1837
Green Tomato Chutney 31 Jul 2015, 17 comments	1446
The pictures that made 2015 31 Dec 2015, 64 comments	1208
Plan C 17 Oct 2016, 90 comments	1174
A favourite post from long ago in a different worl... 13 Jul 2016, 28 comments	1148

But look, what about this post with 1698 page views it ought to be in that list above

A £20 shopping list Edit | View | Share | Delete (Whoops,it's disappeared over to the right, cant get it back!) And so should this with 1773 Lots done despite the weather Edit | View | Share | Delete And on the post page number one should say 2211 not 1837 30 Ways to Save £1-- Day 30 + 50p for Christmas decorations! Local events Sue in Suffolk 17 2211 30/11/2013 Oh goodness me, there have been 16,028 comments! Sue in Suffolk 16 1773 26/03/2014

Sue in Suffolk

25

1698

20/01/2015

But enough of this fiddling about...........................

Do you know this quote................
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. ... The term was popularised in United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."





Back to normal soon
Sue

Still trying not to spend too much

Another viewing on Friday,  "sorry too small".........again....
Another viewing Tuesday morning will probably be the same

We had visitors on Saturday so there was a bit of extra spending for food. But what I bought will also feed us for a couple more days too, so that's OK

We took our friends over to see where the cottage is, just to make it a bit easier for them to find - it's not easily found! I rang to tell the lady who owns it that we would be walking by just to show our friends where the house was and she said she wouldn't be there but we could peer in the windows, which felt much to nosy to actually do.
So we just walked by and got all excited again about getting there as soon as we can.

Sunday was a grey dismal sort of day, we thought about walking to the library but didn't bother to go out at all. I got the tapestry glasses case finished by lining the back of the stitching with a piece of felt, then stitched myself a new scissor-keeper and made one small Christmas card from a free kit that I've had for ages. We also watched Andy Murray  play in the final to become top tennis player at the end of year - brilliant.

Got a bit worried this morning when our youngest said she would call in to see us after taking Florence for an ultra-sound, but it seems all breech babies have a scan to check for hip problems. She's  six weeks now and growing but is still a titch, just about got a small smile.

Hope everyone is surviving the varying weather in other parts of the country........ windy weather that caused so much damage in Somerset, Devon and Dorset, floods and snow up north, we've missed most of it so far.

Welcome to some new followers and thank you for comments

Milk, Fruit and veg plus some other things for meals with visitors and store-cupboard items £17.50
running total now £527 ish and still several days left until the end of the month - bother.

Back shortly
Sue

Tracks of my years

I've never ever seen this done on a blog before so this may be a First. Ever. in. Blogland!

If you have ever listened to The Ken Bruce programme on Radio 2 weekday mornings you will have heard a celebrity choose 10 music tracks that have featured in, have a special meaning or are favourites in the lives.

Here are my tracks of my years and the reasons for choosing

1. Tommy Steele - Little White Bull  from 1959
When an uncle bought himself a new record player he passed his old one onto us probably around 1960 and this is one of the first records that mum bought to play on it. I would have been 4 when this was a hit. It was taken from a comedy musical - Tommy The Toreador starring Tommy Steele,
We probably only had 1 or 2 records so this was played to destruction......and I know all the words!

2. Don Spencer - Fireball XL5 from 1962.
Maybe I had this record for a present. It was the theme tune from a Gerry and Sylvia Anderson TV puppet space adventure, before Thunderbirds, I can't remember the programme but kept the record for years.

3. The Beatles - She Loves You 1963
The first of several Beatles singles I owned, I stupidly gave them away in the 70's to someone starting a disco.

4. Matt Monroe - Born Free 1966
Don't know why I like this but I just do
( and also love him singing On Days Like These which was the theme for the Italian Job)

5. The Kinks- Waterloo Sunset from 1967
For some reason this reminds me of summer holidays at the Beach Station Caravan Site in Felixstowe. Mum owned a caravan there which was let out but we would go down quite a lot in the summer holidays. We roamed the site making friends with other children whose parents owned caravans there and with people who were just there for a weeks holiday. A girl whose name I can't remember ( but her Dad owned a butchers shop in Mendlesham) and I would sit by the check-in place on Saturdays to see if any nice looking boys were arriving...........We were about 12 or 13 years old!

6. The Monkees - I'm a believer 1967
I had Davy Jones pictures all over my bedroom and loved the TV programme

7. David Essex - Myfanwy 1987
This is a song from what was to have been a musical about John Betjeman . The musical never got made but I have a CD of  his poems that were set to music and performed by all different artists

8.The theme from Dances With Wolves by John Barry  1990
 Just a couple of minutes of this  and  I'm in floods of tears......... weird

9.Take That - Want you back 1995
Yes I was a 40 year old Take That fan!

10. Then I hit a problem as I couldn't decide which of several other tracks from lots of different artists so.......

10a  Josh Groban -So She Dances (from his album Awake)
10b  The Divine Comedy -Absent Friends
10c Chris Difford -  Cowboys are My Weakness
10d Amen Corner - (If Paradise Is) Half as Nice
10e Will Young - Leave right now
10f  Robbie Williams - Road to Mandalay
10g  Beautiful South - Need a little Time


 There may be more - given time - but I'll stop there.

OK - Your turn

Back soon
Sue







 

The ins and outs of life at Number 9

Monday IN and OUT was just for a walk, coming back via Aldi.

Tuesday morning OUT to visit A and Florence. Because A is having to take antibiotics she has gone onto formula milk which Florence isn't keen on. She never did get the hang of breast feeding as she always fell asleep after 2 minutes! Florence that is not A! Although A is well known for falling asleep on a 5 minute car journey! I had big cuddles with Florence while A and grandad Col took the dog OUT for a walk.

And IN again for lunch.

Tuesday afternoon OUT to hospital where Col had the 100-days-after-stem-cell-transplant bone marrow sampling - Ouch - he had gas and air. This is how they test if there is any mantle cell lymphoma or what percentage is left. Blood test too, platelets are the same as last week - bother, but at least not down.

And IN again for dinner.

The XL moon was IN and OUT behind clouds but I zoomed IN and caught this. I think a day too late for the full moon.

Wednesday was IN and OUT....................of the car.
On the way to Colin's sisters we called IN at the Needham Market Wednesday boot sale .........4 books for Col £1- very unusual for him to find anything

 and 3 packets of biscuits £1 . We've returned the wheelchair to sister and hope it will be many years before we need it again - if ever.
Then we stop/started up the A140 - volume of traffic? accident?roadworks? we shall never know as we turned off via Mendlesham to call IN on my sister. Coffee with them and then to Col's Dads to pick up some money from Col's brother as I bought my own Christmas present, wrapped it up and delivered it there so all Andrew needs to do is write on the label! He thinks it's an excellent way to do his Christmas shopping! (BTW the present I bought myself was a small tapestry frame and tapestry of poppies to do - both from the Sense charity shop. But don't tell me as it's a secret!!)

And IN again via Asda for diesel still £1.10/L there but £1.17/L everywhere else.

Found half the washing had come off the line and dragged on the ground so it had to go IN the washing machine again before it could go back OUT on the line.

I didn't go OUT anymore because tennis was on TV but Col went OUT for a walk, although the Andy Murray match was very looooooonnnnnggggg so I could have gone OUT because the score was still only 2 : 2 in the first set when Col got IN again.

Thursday
OUT this morning for Col to be measured for his wedding waistcoat.......only 3 weeks now - exciting.
Then IN to town for a bit of shopping and mainly to get Col a new battery for his watch. £14!!!!! In a No spend month! But no choice really. Spent £6 of my Grape Tree vouchers for some savoury bits for us for Christmas as the hampers are sorted. Two more  Christmas gifts also sorted.
Col is OUT again later to hospital for a full body CT scan, not sure why really but we presume to check the chemo hasn't affected any vital organs or maybe to look for possible blood clots.
I don't need to go with him so I can stay IN. Good! all this IN and OUT is making me dizzy!




 Aldi, Asda and greengrocers- fruit, veg, eggs,bread, store cupboard stuff £11
Christmas gifts £10
Diesel £34
Col's books £1
Watch battery £14 (much too much , what happened to wind up watches?)

The  Annoyingly Not so low/no spend November £439.50 + £70 = £509.50ish
Back Soon
Sue

A few more days into November

We walked round to a table top sale at the Baptist Chapel on Saturday morning and even though I said "it's low spend/no spend month" Col decided we would have coffee and cake. I couldn't argue could I? Then he saw a stair-gate with all its fittings for £5, bargained it down to £4 and got that ready for the cottage. By the time we move in and the Surrey family come to visit Jacob will be crawling so we'll need the stairs fenced off.

It was a very sporty weekend......... as in on TV................not actual doing! Lots of rugby - both league and union, snooker, tennis, not everyone's cup of tea but each to his own. Then there was Strictly........gangnam style?.............. nuf said!

Here are the things I'm Not buying/making for Christmas this year.
 A Wreath for the front door or for graves; Christmas crackers; A big Christmas pudding; Christmas PJs; Christmas bedlinen; Christmas presents for pets; New decorations; Tacky blow up Santas for outside; Huge model Santa a la Asda *shudder*;Giant lights for the roof or anywhere else; Christmas tablecloth; Christmas plates; Christmas cushions; Christmas Jumper; Christmas socks; Christmas Hair do; Christmas Make up; Christmas jewelry; e cards; Advent calendar; Large tub or small box of Quality street, Roses  Etc; Extravagant useless gifts; Cheap useless gifts; Giant turkey that won't fit in oven; 6 weeks worth of food to last 3 days; Round-robin boasting letter;

Most of these I don't do anyway and many of them I didn't know existed until I saw them on blogs.
 I'm saving our money for trees to plant at the cottage.

Busy week ahead, back in a while
Sue

Low/No Spend November
Christmas gifts, fruit and milk,eggs and veg etc from Asda, Aldi and the greengrocers £21.50
Pharmacy £7
Stair-gate £4
Coffee and cakes £3
Total £404 + £32.50 = £439.50 ish

That Was (Most of) The Week That Was

 The thing about living in town in an all mains gas/electric bungalow is that for the first time since 1979  we have no alternative self reliant heating or cooking.
Anyway, with dire warnings of a cold winter and possible problems with electricity supply (something to do with no spare capacity from power stations), I suggested we go and get the gas ring from the beach hut. Now we have the gas cooker out in the caravan and the gas ring indoors, I don't feel so vulnerable, but I will be so glad to get back to the country where we will have a wood-burner and hopefully, eventually, a propane-gas range cooker.

There had been some high tides in Felixstowe near the hut,by the looks of the stones washed up onto the prom and a strange phenomenon............. loads of oyster shells washed into the corners by each wooden groyne.

The weather on Wednesday was awful - rain all day. We didn't get out for a walk at all. I just made a card for the wedding next month, read and then started writing my Penny Pinching News letter which is due to go to friends for January 1st . A very lazy day.

 It was Col's blood test on Thursday morning (platelets are up a bit again thank heavens) and then in the afternoon we got out for a 2½ walk - up to Asda and back and no sitting down halfway. Definitely the furthest he has walked since he started feeling poorly a year ago.

Today he is off out for Brunch with ex work colleagues and I haven't got much that has to be done so will get on with finishing the tapestry glasses case or reading.

I've actually abandoned quite a few books recently, yesterday  the new Ann Cleeves, Shetland series - Cold Earth. I've been spoiled by the TV series and the books are completely different. "The 12.30 From Croydon"  is another of the British Library Crime Classics but the story is told from the point of view of the murderer -hate that! "Antidote to venom" was another the same. A friend had told me about a crime series set in Canada by Louise Penny but I couldn't get into the first of these "Still Life" so that went back unread. I wanted to read "A Woman's Place" by Ruth Adam but had several other books at home I preferred first so it went back but it's still on the shelves at Broomhill so I may borrow it again.

 This is the latest photo of our grandson Jacob which daughter has sent, now 5 months old this is his first time on a (rather too big for him) swing. What a difference from the poorly little fella back in July. Can't wait to get down to Surrey soon to see him properly.

Thank you for comments, I shall mention nothing about the country across the pond and just say welcome to another follower.


Spending up-date in Low/No Spend November
Milk, veg and other bits from Aldi, bread and bits from Asda and fruit from the greengrocers £16.50
That book 50p
Pack of 4 gas cartridge thingys for the beach hut gas ring. £8
Boiler repairs £80 Aaaaaagh!  ( That's rather spoiled the low spend plan)

£299 +£105 = £404

Back when something exciting/interesting/noteworthy happens
Sue

Ooops but no apologies!

We've been extending the walks day by day and yesterday did  2.07 miles, which is peanuts I know for most people but for someone who was in hospital until  the middle of September it's not too bad. This walk took us in a circle via the Emmaus charity shop where we knew he could sit down if he needed to.
Much to my surprise I spotted a Persephone on their book shelves, one I hadn't got. Oh dear, what a dilemma, a No Unnecessary  Spend month but there was a 50p book for my collection.

This wasn't sideways when I took the picture!

Actually it wasn't a dilemma at all!
Persephone number 35  "Greenery Street" by Denis Mackail is on my bookshelf.

Thanks for the comments last time and welcome to a new follower

Back Soon
Sue

PS I don't do politics or religion on this blog but I'm praying for a sort-of safe result today!

Le weekend (or is it La weekend)

Le or La ? I failed French O level way back in 1971 and have since forgotten most of what I did learn.

On Friday we popped over to see our perfect granddaughter - 3 and a half weeks old now. She's always perfect when we see her but daughter A says she's being a right pain at night!
We went via the house that sells apples, we've been detouring that way because they've got bags of Cox's for 50p and they are just delicious, got a bag for A too. Did a small shop at Co-op in Leiston while we were there as I had a £2 off £10 voucher. Our local Co-op near Aldi has been turned into a McColls convenience store and a Subway and they have sent Co-op members in the area 2 x £2 off £10 vouchers to make up for the inconvenience. There are 3 other Co-ops on the edges of this estate so I'm not surprised that the one in competition with Aldi has been forced to close.
Friday afternoon was wet and nasty so I sorted out another box of books for Ziffit. Whoop whoop now raised just over £100 and cleared about 50 books!

Saturday morning by request of Col we went to the Needham Market carboot  (though I didn't take any persuading!) It was blinkin' freezing then it started to drizzle so we weren't there long. Me being on Low spend November I just bought some pears for £1 and this new bag, £1, plus a half started tapestry kit, 50p, for making a glasses case. I love rescuing half done craft kits and will finish this for a Christmas present. The bag will also be a present for a friend as they have a Sherlock Holmes game which they often play at Christmas. I'll put her other present inside it.

I was able to resist all books as I didn't see a single one I wanted! And Col just bought some washers.

Next job was Cranberry Chutney for the hampers............... should be simple but after searching  Morrisons and Aldi  for frozen cranberries with no luck I looked on My Supermarket and found Asda didn't have them either. Only Tesco, so called at Tesco in Saxmundham on the way to daughters but no, none there  which only left going to the big Tesco on the edge of Ipswich where you have to walk half a mile to find what you want and at last found them.
So, how to mix and match two recipes from different books.

On the left is a recipe from The Good Housekeeping Book of Preserves, on the right it's the WI book I used the other day. I had 400g of cranberries and decided the GH book didn't have a big enough proportion of  vinegar or sugar to fruit (and I didn't want to use sultanas or raisins) but I didn't like the idea of cooking the onions and apples in butter or using brown sugar as per the WI recipe.
So my recipe was (and apologies for mixing metric and imperial but that's how my mind works!)
 400g cranberries
Approx 12 oz prepared cooking apples ( peeled,cored,chopped)
Approx 10oz red onions peeled and chopped ( red was what I had but ordinary would do)
¾ lb white sugar
15fl oz distilled white vinegar
2 tsp mixed spice.

I put the apples and onions in the preserving pan covered with a bare minimum of water and cooked them for about 10 minutes until they were starting to soften. Then strained and put  them back in the pan.
Then I added the vinegar and sugar on a gentle heat stirring until the sugar had dissolved, added the frozen cranberries and left on gentle heat until they defrosted (Should have defrosted first I guess). Then I mashed up the cranberries, brought the pan to the boil stirring then reduced heat to a simmer for about half an hour stirring frequently. After that time the mix had thickened up nicely and was looking good. I gave it another 10 minutes just to be sure all excess liquid had been boiled away and then the wooden spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan allowed me to see the bottom for a second  and I potted up into hot sterilised jars and screwed up tight.

 This made 4 and a bit medium jars, I've taken the photo with one lid off so you can see the consistency. It tasted like a fruity sweet and sour mix of jam and chutney. Should be good with turkey or chicken.

Our son came over Saturday afternoon so his Dad could give him a hand with a car repair. Nice to see  Col back in overalls again. He just has to be very careful not to cut himself because the low platelets would mean blood might not clot.



I'd temporarily run out of library books so read this from my shelves. I'd previously read a book by her called "And then there were nuns; adventures in a cloistered life". Both were good.

Saturday evening, our first ever November 5th on a housing estate. Blimey it was like living in a war zone! (but without the fear). How many pounds worth of fireworks went up in smoke I wonder? I love fireworks, would happily stand and watch all of them anywhere but wouldn't dream of buying any! I noticed the £49.99 one from Aldi lasted  all of 115 seconds.........

Sunday
We walked to the library again and they had 4 British library Crime Classics in for me. I'd suggested them on the website and they bought them all. LOVE Suffolk Libraries. Also the new Ann Cleeves - "Cold Earth".
I've started the rescue of the tapestry glasses case. It's half cross stitch but someone had done bits one way and other bits the other diagonal.Then they had done some cross stitch which was all lumpy! I took out the cross stitch bit but there was too much to undo all the wrong tent stitch so I carried on the best I could. It looks OK as long as you don't look too closely. Not sure if it will be good enough to make a Christmas present.



Apples, milk, veg, eggs, frozen cranberries, Dreamies for the cat and a couple of other bits £11.63p.
Car boot sale pears £1 and Xmas gift bits £1.50

Total in the Low/No Spend November challenge £299ish

Back Soon
Sue

1,000 and counting

Drum roll please........this is post number 1,000.
Who knew that I'd still be blogging after 3½ years. So many things have changed, life is completely different and not by choice and changing again next year.
I hope that I've charted the ups and downs without regrets or too much moaning.

 Many people have been reading from the very beginning - Thank you all  for your encouragement and support.

 Anyway, enough of all that, where have I/we been out and about to so far this week?

 1.Into the town centre to put the Ziffit cheques into my building society and pay a bill. I was foiled at The Grape Tree shop as they've stopped their loyalty card scheme but the lady said if I sent off my card which has 9 stamps on they will send me a £9 voucher. So not completely wasted.
Went in Poundland and got some more items for the 3 hampers. Looked at the all their various fairy lights and Christmas decoration stuff but didn't buy any. Not something I buy every year like so many people do. I don't feel the need for a different colour scheme/theme. It's all a matter of contentment - I have no need to search for a new look!
2. Walking - especially Colin who is now up to 1.5 miles with no stopping and sitting down. I've kept him company on some walks and feel better for it.
3. His weekly trip to hospital for a blood test. Now he's fit again I don't need to go with him to drop him off at the door before driving round and round for a parking space. Platelets still not climbing as they should be D**n!
4.As I'd decided to use the Wyevale voucher for Christmas presents, we thought we might as well go while they were having their "Christmas Event" afternoon and get free mulled wine and mincepie and 10% off some things too. Not impressed by their Christmas decorations just camels and glittery reindeer.

Thought these were just plain awful!

  But the non-alcholic version of spiced drink was delicious and a bottle was 'bought' for us.

.
  Presents for Col's brother and Dad sorted. Big Tick off the list and all without spending any proper money so not included in the November spend.


"No" Spend November. Dried fruit and nuts for cakes for Christmas gifts + biscuits etc for hampers £16. Dark chocolate bars for Col £2.
Running total £284.

Back Soonish with 1001 ( and I defy anyone my age to say 1001 without starting to sing the cleaning carpet ad!)
Sue

That recipe

My mention of mixing a tin of grapefruit with a tin of cheats ready prepared marmalade mix had lots of people asking for more details.
Here is the recipe from the book  W.I Jams,Pickles and Chutneys

I'm making this later so will update this post to let you know what it's like and if it tastes good I'll add the recipe to my separate page.

UPDATE
It works and tastes delicious.
As Pat says in comments - people on statins shouldn't eat grapefruit and it does have a HUGE amount of sugar in it. I've put the recipe on my recipe page with more details.


Welcome to some more followers, hope you enjoy reading.



Back Soon
Sue

No Spend November...........Well sort of

I'm doing my No Spend November challenge again this year. Last year it was because we had no produce to sell out the front on the stall and Colin was too poorly to work for other people - although at the time we didn't know what was wrong with him. So we started to live on savings and the income we had earned during the year from the campsite, selling eggs and produce and the car boot and yard sales.
This year we actually have more income than last year as we have the Employment Support Allowance of £109 a week until 31st December and a £10 Christmas bonus - WOW! But with the move approaching we will need as many pennies saved as possible

My idea of no spend isn't NO spend but rather limiting spending to paying bills, feeding us and the cat, diesel and Christmas stuff (because if I left present shopping until December it would throw me into a panic). Other than that I shouldn't open my purse.....that's the plan.To keep on track I shall list everything here for the world and his wife to ponder over!

I've also been thinking of ways to buy some presents without money......sounds good doesn't it.
I've got some Wyevale garden vouchers which I didn't use here - I could save them to use at the cottage,but the only things we will need are fruit trees etc and they are ridiculously expensive at Wyevale. so I could go  and see what I can find for pressies. Then if I spend £10 at The Grape Tree on dried fruit I will fill my savings card and that will make £10 to use for presents - chocs etc. The Morrisons saver card has provided me with a £5 voucher after yesterday main November shop - that will buy another present. Then we have about £25 left in the Pay Pal account after selling last years wedding clothes on eBay.....More presents.
 I need to make some more food gifts for the hampers for sisters and brothers in law. Cranberry chutney will be next and then mini Dundee cakes and I came across an idea for altering the tins of the cheats lemon Mamade by adding a tin of grapefruit to make it more interesting.

The makings for a different marmalade

  Therefore.......spent so far..............Direct Debits - Council Tax, 3 months Water and Sewer + Mobile phone + Charity = £200ish, Morrisons November main shop £66 (including Cats £12, things for making items for Christmas hampers and Christmas food gifts £10)

Total £266

On a completely different subject.............we were watching the lunchtime news on Tuesday when they were talking about the government putting more money into the fight against cyber-crime. The reporter said we are used to hearing about computer and phone hacking  but what about your kettle being hacked? I thought I'd heard wrong......kettle?? how on earth?. Of course I'm way out of date and apparently your kettle can be linked to your phone so you can switch it on so it's hot when you walk in the door. Good grief, whatever next. Just makes me want to run away to the woods and heat my kettle on a campfire!

Back Soon
Sue

A New Month

From one of the books I picked up on Saturday  Celtic Book Of Days-- Samhain - The New Year

From sunset last night to sunset this evening Pagan and Celtic people would have celebrated Samhain. The beginning of the dark half of the year - Not my favourite thing to celebrate that's for sure and I'm still suffering from being awake too soon and hungry at the wrong time of day all due to clocks changing. You'd think I'd be used to it after 61 years but no, I still moan for about a week until my body clock settles.

After getting back from the book sale last Saturday we walked round to the jumble sale at the Scout Hall and apart from 20p to get in only spent 20p on a new notebook/diary in a case that will be a Christmas present.

 Decided I'd better not go to the car boot sale on Sunday (due to spending  too much money at the book sale)  so spent the morning in the kitchen. We were given some windfall cooking apples so I made a pie and used some in the mincemeat mix. Then I rustled up some tomato soup (carrots, onions, tinned tomatoes,tom puree, stock, flour to thicken) cooked some chicken joints for Cols lunchtime sandwiches and finally shoved a tray of scones in the oven as the cake tin was empty. That's the most cooking I've done at once since we moved here as cooking and baking all seemed a bit pointless when I was spending so much time on my own.

Looked on my recipe page to see if the mincemeat recipe was listed there and it is but then I found a couple of comments that I didn't know were there - whoops, sorry folks. Is Upcyclerbypaint still reading?.

 Colin's fitness is coming along in leaps and bounds (hope it's not just the steroid tablets!) and yesterday he decided he was well enough to walk to the library and back........his first time, I've done it a couple of times but really prefer to bike, even if it means pushing the bike up the hills. 0.83 of a mile according to Mapometer, 15 minutes sit down to look at the newspaper and 0.83 home again. It was blinkin' warm walking yesterday, it's up hill nearly all the way home but he was less worn out than I was!


 And about as far away from Pagan customs as it's possible to get, here is part of a poem written for children

Dull November brings the blast,

Then the leaves are falling fast.

(from 'Months' by Sara Coleridge)

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Probably The Biggest Charity Booksale in East Anglia

The NSPCC book sale at Holmwood House School near Colchester every October is HUGE
When we used to sell second-hand books at Country Fairs it was one of the places we knew we could go  to pick up plenty of stock without spending too much.
 Now I go just to see whats there and perhaps find a few books.
Here's the queue to get in about 20 minutes before opening time, and it goes round the corner out of sight too.

35,000 books they  say they have for sale!
This picture is from t'internet from last year because I forgot to go up on the stage and take a picture and it's often much more crowded than this picture shows.

And this is the heap of the "few" books I found

When I got home I realised that the Woodsman by Ben Law was just a different looking version to one I read a while back so that will go to the charity shop as will The Behaviour of Moths - which isn't what I thought it was. The Agatha Christie at the top of the pile is a collection of short stories from her early writing that I hadn't come across before.
The most interesting of the lot is the one at the bottom 'Living Back-to-Back' a history of the very cheap housing built to house all the workers for the mills and factories in 19th century cities.

I searched all through the fiction for grey Persephones but not a single one nor any DE Stevenson or Angela Thirkell - sadly.
It was very difficult to limit myself to this lot as it's easy to go crazy and spend a small fortune!

Welcome to more new followers and Thank you for all the comments on the last post. I noticed that no one said if they thought putting knickers on while standing up was a sign of being fit and flexible!! Does that mean you can or you can't??!!

Back Soon
Sue

And Another Week Bites The Dust

Before I start I must say hello to lots of new followers, once it was possible to click on names and find if people had a blog or not but that's one of the things Blogger have changed - very annoying, so if you have a blog please leave a comment with the name of the blog.
And must say thank you for all the comments on the last post. It's certainly true about "Bungalow Legs" as after just 7 months here I now find stairs quite hard work. We haven't completely dismissed the hospital gym as it will certainly be a good idea for later although fitness in the past has always been maintained by working - gardening, wood cutting etc. Back at the smallholding I did half a mile of walking round the field everyday just to let the chickens out and collect the eggs!

Anyway, what have we been up to......................................

Monday - Off to hospital with Colin  for his regular blood test and then an appointment with the Doctor. Platelets have gone up again  *Happy Dance* and the doctor said he could drop several of the tablets he's been taking  since he came out of hospital.

Tuesday - a.m. I went to see a physio to get some more exercises to help hips and back. Very nice young fella wiggled my legs about and said my hips were not too bad and my back fairly flexible, then showed me 3 more exercises to try to improve even more.
I reckon the test is - can you put your knickers on while standing up? 

We had a viewing of the bungalow in the afternoon and our For Sale sign has gone up. We told our lovely neighbour Ann that we were moving so it didn't come as a shock to her but I bet it's surprised some of the other neighbours. It takes about 5 minutes to show people round this small bungalow whereas last year it took at least an hour to show folk around the smallholding.
 Then we took library books back and went for a walk in Broomhill Park behind the library ( From the web : Broomhill Park is a semi-natural woodland park between Sherrington Road and Valley Road in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. In older times it was called Broom Hill. The park contains many fine historic oaks and an abundance of Scots Pines).  If it wasn't for the traffic noise it would feel like a wood in the country.

Wednesday - Out to Leiston to visit our beautiful granddaughter, (and our daughter of course!) now two weeks and one day old.

 We got to see her awake this time and while Col went to visit one of old neighbours, me and A took Florence and the dog for a walk around the park. 

 Feedback from yesterdays viewing " it didn't have a wow factor"! Colin asked me what on earth they meant so I said it would mean completely gutting the kitchen and replacing with glossy doored cupboards and granite worktops and ceramic tiled floor. Replacing the new carpets we had laid for warmth with wood flooring and all the light fittings with new ones. My settee covered with a patchwork throw would have to go and the comfy armchair - it's always leather sofas in modern homes.The pine dresser that isn't really a dresser and the pine chest that the TV stands on would also be changed to something modern and metal and as for the little round table by my chair which is really a homemade sewing box table from the 1930s, that definitely wouldn't be seen in a Wow Factor home! All the doors throughout the place would need new ones as they are old hollow sapele ones. The double glazing is out dated and would have to be replaced, then a conservatory added out the back with big bi-fold doors. The garden would be decked and grass banished and as for the old fashioned flower border - that would have to go.I showed him  THIS which has come on the market in Ipswich (but not in such a Good area as ours she says sniffily!)- just the sort of place I would hate! And certainly not what we could afford to do here before selling. So we shall just have to wait and hope.


Thursday morning and back to the cottage to meet the lady selling it and have another look round. We're just hoping she doesn't suddenly change her mind as she doesn't really want to move but has been widowed now for 6 years and is probably in her late 70s and finding the driving to the village and back for everything is starting to be too much. The cottage is exactly what we want and we would happily move in as soon as the solicitors can sort it but the lady has a lot of things to shift so we don't want to rush her and it will be January before she'll be ready so we will have to be patient.
One problem is that there will be no cooker/oven there as the lady is taking hers with her. There is a perfect place to put a range and I would like to go back to LPG (heating is oil boiler - no natural gas)but we may have to manage with microwave and caravan cooker until we can sort something out. Although somewhere stored in one of the trailers is a double burner camping stove.

Thursday afternoon and another bungalow viewing - the third - third time lucky?

Friday 
No, not third time lucky " too small" ( yes we know that!)

And now it's nearly 5pm and we are just back from the other side of Ipswich after attending my uncle's funeral (my mum's eldest sister's husband) he was 94 and my Auntie is still a fairly fit 92. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary 2 years ago. That's a long time together. We caught up with two of my cousins "we're running out of Aunts and Uncles" I said "but gaining grandchildren".

We have another viewing tomorrow and there's a Jumble sale round the corner at the Scout Hut. Might pop to a Book sale too and perhaps a car boot - Sound's like the perfect weekend! 

Back after the weekend
Sue

Getting Fit Again After Cancer

As you can imagine 8 months of treatment and then 7 weeks in hospital, most of them feeling pretty rough is not a good way to retain fitness. Colin came out of hospital on September 20th feeling very weak and he spent the first two weeks at home mainly sitting about and sleeping. To begin with even walking round our (very small) garden made his legs ache. Gradually over the last couple of weeks his energy has returned and he feels ready to get fit again.

As advised by  the cancer nurse specialist we asked Macmillan Cancer Care about local gyms that specialize in rehabilitation for cancer patients but found  you still have to pay. Then the lady told us about free sessions run at the hospital which quite frankly sounded so silly  that I think Col is going to stick to walking at least for the time being because he may need some help later building arm muscles.

A car boot sale and then up and down the road  was the first step. Then on the UK Runners and Walkers website you can find out how far you've walked and being in town it's easy just to add a little bit extra each day by taking a different road around the estate. After just 4 days of regular short walks he was able to come with me to Aldi and back, that's just under a mile, not much but a good start.

My fitness levels have also dropped  since moving to town and when I had the awful back and leg pains a few weeks ago I got a bit worried. The doctor told me to refer myself to physio, so I did and they gave me some more exercises for hip movement to add to the ones I already do to help my back. So with these exercises and walking with Colin, I hope by the time we move we'll both be fit again and ready to explore the footpaths round our new home.

Back  at the end of the week
Sue

Long Live Great Bardfield - Review

Thanks to Persephone for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Eileen 'Tirzah' Garwood was born in 1908 and from  1925-8 she went to the Eastbourne School of Art where she was taught wood engraving by Eric Ravilious who she married in 1930.
She began this biography whilst recovering from breast cancer, looking back at her childhood and teenage years and then their life among some of the artists of the time who gravitated away from cities to live in Great Bardfield, and neighbouring Essex villages. Much of the book focuses on the love life of the various couples who seem to fall in and out of love with other members of the group all the time.
Her descriptions of all the people - friends, family, villagers are so good, as are the details of the places she visits with Eric when he is commissioned to paint landscapes or murals. Of Morecombe she writes" We should have to wait a whole week in this sad town that was only meant for visitors in the proper seasons; now it lay like a sluttish prostitute who hadn't yet bothered to get out of bed and paint her face". 
Eric and Tirzah had their first son - John- in 1935 and from that time Tirzah did very little in the way of wood prints or painting as she struggled to look after the children, James arrived in 1939 and Anne in 1941 and to keep house - often in very primitive conditions.
When war broke out Eric became an official war artist and was lost presumed dead while on a plane journey over Iceland in 1942. At the same time she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began an informal biography for her future grandchildren while recovering. The biography finishes in 1943 and the story of the rest of her life is told through letters and memories by her daughter Anne. Tirzah married Henry Swanzy, a BBC producer in 1946 and died when her cancer spread in 1951
The book is illustrated with black and white photos and Tirzah's engravings.

I enjoyed this book although there are so many people mentioned throughout  that I sometimes took a while to work out who was who!

It was only previously published in a limited edition hardback in 2012, so well done to Persephone Books for bringing it to a wider audience.

Back Soonish
Sue

Mushrooms and Apples

Colin decided he felt well enough to walk around a boot sale so we popped along to a regular Sunday one a few miles out of town - It will be our nearest once we move.
Everybody wanted silly prices for the few things I asked about so all I left with was a box of mushrooms for £1. We came back a different way and passed through a village with lots of orchards and bought  a big bag of Cox apples for 50p. Then home for a coffee.

 Mushroom soup anyone?

Thank you for all the comments last time and for the many new followers

If it was a follower competition then I think Sue at Our New Life in the Country won with John at Going Gently second and I rolled in a miserable 3rd. But as it wasn't a competition I'm not bitter!!

Back Soon
Sue

Sunday to Thursday

Thank you for so many comments about our move back to the country. We can't wait.
 I've done the maths several times to check we can afford it and yes ...........just. Things will be pretty tight until we sell the bungalow. Unfortunately there are several properties for sale in Ipswich for much the same price at the moment and if it doesn't sell quickly we will be living on Fresh Air until Col can get his County Council pension in March. (Someone asked if we could rent it out instead of selling but I think the rental income would only be about £650 - £700 a month, then agency fees to come off so not really enough to live on).
I'm looking on it as a challenge to live on a very low budget for the rest of the year, although Christmas may have to be postponed until we sell!


 On Sunday we popped over to visit our new granddaughter, 5 days old - still haven't seen her awake.

 Florence refused to breast feed once they got home so A is expressing. She's determined to try and avoid the high cost of formula milk. She was also planning to use the re-usable nappies but Florence is too tiny for them so it was lucky I found a few more newborn disposables  at a car boot sale.

Monday - Our son reached the grand old age of 35 today. Doesn't seem five minutes since he was Florence's size, although come to think of it he was never as small and grew into the 6 foot something he is now by the time he was 15.
We went down to the beach hut as the weather promised a decent day with an offshore wind, but they were wrong and by 2pm it was really chilly and started to rain. It was very quiet down there, only dog walkers and joggers. Col sat behind our windbreak while I kept inside out of the wind. I've now brought home the things that will get damp over winter

 We treated ourselves to a whippy ice cream - with flake of course - the last of the season before the kiosk closes.
 Over the weekend I sorted through more books and delivered another box full to be collected to go off to Ziffit.com - another £24 worth. Most of my books they don't want and some of the ones they will accept are ones I want to keep so I haven't emptied many boxes so far.

Tuesday - More book sorting, it's getting quite addictive. I found £27 worth and boxed up. That's a total of nearly £80 of income which is handy amount. Will I regret selling some of them later - probably but not many and anyway we really need the cash.

I did 10 minutes more garden clearing but my back started complaining so I soon stopped, I'm just so out of condition.

Wednesday -
Made the Baby Jacob page in my new scrapbook. I didn't look on-line to get ideas, nor did I rush out to buy any more bits and pieces, just used what I had, this is how it ended up

After lunch we had to take our ID and filled in forms into town for our solicitor.


 Thursday - I went with Col to hospital for his regular weekly blood test and Great Joy his platelets are starting to climb, from very, very, very,VERY low to just very, very,very low. Perhaps that's the start of an improvement. He also had to have a monthly lung thing where they give him an antibiotic by inhalation. He hopes they'll stop it soon as it gives him terrible indigestion.
The weather was cold and miserable today so I decided it was time to start making soup for daily lunches. First soup of the Autumn was Leek and Potato as leeks are one of the Aldi cheap vegetables at the moment. We have salad and something for lunch through spring and summer so by soup season I've always forgotten how delicious and warming it is.
After lunch off to the Estate Agents to take ID  and to find out one or two more details about the cottage.

I have the dentists tomorrow for a filling ..............

Back Soon
Sue

Plan C

Plan A June 2015 - December 2015
Sell the smallholding, buy a small bungalow in town, use the caravan to visit all over the country, decide where to buy, perhaps Wales, and rent out bungalow in town.

Plan B January 2016
After diagnoses of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, live in small bungalow in town until Colin has recovered then use caravan to travel and decide where to live perhaps Wales. Rent out bungalow in town.

Plan C  Suddenly October 2016
Spot lovely home  for sale in Suffolk countryside, abandon idea of ever living in Wales due to ongoing health problems, the wet weather there and arrival of 2 grandchildren. Make a cash  offer on house - which gets accepted. Put small bungalow on market.
All family cheering that we are not going to Wales.


Yes, after just 7 months in town we are heading back out into 'the sticks'.

We hadn't really planned to move again so quickly but when we spotted a house in Mid Suffolk on t'internet that looked really interesting, we went to look and it was just what we wanted. The sort of place we were looking for in Wales but without the rain and the hills!

So we are going to ignore the fact that Colin might have to have donated stem cells and more months of treatment. We shall ignore the fact that buying the house means we wipe out all savings and we'll have hardly anything to live on until we sell this bungalow and Col gets work pension in March 2017. We will ignore the fact that he may only be in remission for a short while and I could be on my own in the middle of nowhere and we will just go for it.
 When it comes to house buying we've always gone with gut feeling (For instance taking 2 small children to live in a caravan while we restored a very old semi-derelict property in 1983 and moving across Suffolk to the completely run down smallholding in 1992)

The cottage is part very old but part more modern it has 4 bedrooms although the small one will be my craft room/office, plenty of room for the Surrey bit of the family to stay. It has a lovely big living room and conservatory, with a dining room and kitchen. There is already a mini orchard of 1 apple, 1 pear and a plum tree + vegetable beds and a greenhouse. It's down a track off a country lane with just 3 other houses and so very quiet. There is a half acre paddock just crying out to be planted up with trees to make a wood. It's 10-15 minutes from a village we know well with a doctor and small shops. 20 minutes from the Asda on the edge of Ipswich  and slightly less to a Tesco outside of  Stowmarket which is the town that has always felt like our home town. We will be closer to Col's sister, Dad and brother. Closer to my sister and not a lot further from our two Suffolk children. Now that I've done so much driving and gained in confidence it doesn't seem to matter that we may be back and forwards to hospital etc.


It's totally mad but very exciting

Here is a small blurry glimpse

Must say welcome to a whole load of new followers all because of John Gray at Going Gently. He was shamelessly begging for followers to get to 1000 when he will die happy - at least I think that was the promise! so I hopped on his bandwagon and begged to get to 400. Trouble is my blog doesn't quite have the same attractions as John's so I'm not expecting the new followers to actually read my drivel!

Back Soon - probably with more new granddaughter photos which is something that you won't see on John's blog unless he has dark secrets from the past that we don't know about!!

Sue

Smaller Happenings

There has been one BIG happening this week - A brand new granddaughter  of course

But there have been small happenings  too....................

 I spotted a Redwing in the garden, had to look in the bird book to check as we never saw them out in the country. Then we saw a skein of geese in a V shape flying over one evening, it's good to catch glimpses of nature in the middle of a housing estate.

The 2 x £5 Amazon vouchers - because of filling in an Ipsos Mori Poll - arrived via email and have been used to buy Col some thick long socks.

I've successfully kitted myself out to be Mother of The Groom in December for less than £70. The navy  dress new from Yours £45, cream jacket looking like new from eBay £7 inc. postage, hat £5 charity shop and a navy clutch bag eBay will be less than £5. I wonder if there is an average spend for mother of the groom and does it make me look mean? I would have spent less if I could!

 Asda had lots of clothes on a sale rail and I found 2 tunic tops reduced to £5 each, that's no more than some charity shops charge and I've been searching all summer without luck.

Had a lovely long letter from one of our Penny Pincher letter group and then a late letter from the person who should have written in September. Plenty to read.

The How To Be A Tudor book by Ruth Goodman has gone back to the library unfinished as has The Past is Myself by Christabel Beilenberg.Not because they're unreadable but because more interesting books have turned up to be read first. New to my pile are Anne Perry - Murder on the Serpentine; Alys Clare - A Rustle of Silk which is the first in a new series of historical crime by a favourite author and another of the British Library Crime Classic reprints - The Methods of Sergeant Cluff by Gil North.
 Perhaps I ought to stop requesting library books for a while.

We've waited all week to hear when my late uncle's funeral will be, but it must be next week. Then we heard that our very elderly friend the ex-game keeper from Knodishall had died. So two funerals coming up.

That's about it, a quiet week apart from the arrival of Florence who finally got the hang of breast feeding and was allowed home on Thursday afternoon. we hope to pop over for another quick cuddle at the weekend.

Just to tease you, there might be some unexpected but interesting house move news next week.......................

Back Soon
Sue