Things 'discovered' this week

• I discovered that if  I'd have paid £14.99 for this,

I'd have felt aggrieved. (so thank heavens for libraries). It's largish type and  double spaced so 452 pages could have been 226. Then each chapter heading has a page to itself, so make that under 200 pages, and just two evenings reading.
The story itself is fine, sort-of chick lit I suppose - not as good as some of her earlier books though, seems to skim the surface of the characters.
After writing this I looked to see what people had written in the Amazon reviews - they were very mixed. So you pay your money ( but don't!) and make up your own mind.

• I discovered that all pieces were present and correct for the jigsaw puzzle. I shall pass it on to Col's sister for her neighbour.

• I discovered that if you bike to B & Q to buy a new shower (ours packed up Monday morning when the water suddenly stopped and the on/off button got stuck) you have to walk back balancing the rather large box in the bike basket,

and because our nearest B&Q is closing I got a bargain. But then Col Discovered sometimes you just need to turn off water and electric, take the shower to bits, fiddle with the bit inside where the on/off button is and it will work again. I won't be taking the one I bought back to B&Q because it will happily sit in the cupboard ready for when the old shower really does go wrong.

• I discovered that I don't know what this is. Before the flowers appeared I thought it was a clematis

now I'm not sure.

• And finally, if I didn't know before, I discovered that I am a hopeless case when it comes to car-boot sale books. I blame  Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow blog  for a couple of these, because of reading it I've caught his addiction to old books! But not at any price, as this pile of books, another toy for the grandchildren's cupboard,Christmas doilies and the canning set were £4.50 in total.

Thanks for comments and welcome to new follower Serenata ( I like your book lists!)

Back Soon
Sue

Walking to the library

 Down our road round the corner then another corner and you find

an old postbox - not very exciting you might say but it's within a short walk from home and if you've been reading the blog for years you'll remember that where we lived before the postbox got stolen and wasn't replaced leaving us a mile and a bit to go to post a letter.

Past more houses and across  2 roads then along this footpath under the railway. The house on the right has an aviary in the back garden - the noise is dreadful, glad I don't live next to them.
Along another road and between houses and down onto this playing field. It's just a grassy area with a fenced in playground and was soggy wet this morning.

 Spotted blackberries starting to grow on the edge of the field, wonder if there will be any to pick later or will other people get there first.

 Out the other side of the playing field and here we are at our local library.

Quoting from a slightly out of date page on t'internet...........
 " Westbourne (It's now called Broomhill) Library was designed as a decontamination centre to protect the Ipswich public from Nazi chemical warfare - with a post-war transfer of usage to a public library in 1948. It is an extremely popular and well used public library and community hub. With 77,000 visits p.a, it is the 11th busiest of Suffolk’s 44 libraries; and is the only library in north Ipswich.

I'm guessing the figures quoted are way out of date and the library is much quieter now than when this was written.
 I came home avoiding the soggy playing field and passed  perhaps the saddest thing in Ipswich 

 It's the old entrance of Broomhill outdoor swimming pool, too expensive for the council to run it closed several years ago. Every now and again they talk about re-opening it. There are very few public outdoor pools or lidos left anywhere in the country now, very sad, as we spent many happy days at the one in Stowmarket when I was in my mid teens.

And then up and down roads and around corners until I got home again, luckily avoiding the rain showers.

Back Soon
Sue

Hurrying towards the end of June

Moving on swiftly from yesterdays slightly maudlin post.

This is all the other stuff that's been going on here......................

My Wednesday post had a list of things to finish and I'm pleased to say the owl cross stitch and the watering can have both been turned into cards. The puzzle is gradually being pieced together but the book pile is only going down slowly and the lavender bags are still waiting

  A small silver 9 year old Fiesta has entered our life.
 We've been a one car family for several years, ever since the County Council stopped paying a car allowance and forced Col to use a hired works van for bridge inspections - (How hiring a van was cheaper than paying a mileage allowance I have no idea).
Several times in our married life we've  had long periods of only owning one car, simply because we couldn't afford to run two cars. While Col used the car for work I would use my bike, local bus or we would only go shopping at weekends. We've had spells with two cars - usually two very old cars, especially after we moved to Knodishall when we were miles from everything. Now the Hyundai we bought in February 2015 as a replacement for the gas-guzzling Jeep Cherokee, needs a new clutch - the 9 roundabouts, 3 sets of traffic lights and a dozen other stop-starts between here and hospital have worn it out! It really ought to be swapped for something smaller and more economical for town life except that when Col is better and we get around to towing the caravan to all the places on my long list we will need it again.
Hence the Fiesta, I would have liked bright red or blue but Hey Ho! Just got to get used to all the differences between the Tuscan and the Fiesta now and I'd only just got the hang of the Tuscon after the Jeep.

I've  finished another Angela Thirkell book - Northbridge Rectory - it's my favourite so far. This is the new reprint by Virago Modern Classics of the 1941 book, the 10th in her Barsetshire series which were written between 1933 and 1962. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed them before the age I am now - are younger people reading them? So many of the people she created I can recognise from the village I went to school in during the 1950s. I remember elderly spinsters living with even more elderly fathers, sisters eeking out a living by sharing a house, cooks and cleaners and huge families and slightly strange, scholarly, old men. They all appear in the world she created. Each book is a story in it's own right but often mentioning people in previous books.
 Northbridge Rectory mainly revolves around Mrs Villars, the rectors wife and how she and the rest of the village deal with the 8 members of the Barsetshire regiment who have been billeted at the rectory. There is parachute spotting from the roof of the church, bird-watching ( Thirkell invents wonderful names for birds to save her having to research details of real ones -I think!), genteel tea parties. Nieces partying with the soldiers and the awful wife of the Major.All great fun.
VMC are reprinting 3 more  in November but Why oh why have they only done  the 9th -"Cheerfulness Breaks in" - in an e book edition? They've "forced" me to buy an old copy - damn that one-click Amazon ordering thing!

Yesterday I went here

 to listen to this

And very good it was too. Col said he would come too and go down to the beach hut while I was at the talk to check everything was OK, then after picking me up we collected fish and chips and went back to the beach hut for an hour of sea air. We were very excited to spot a seal, at least we supposed that was what it was - one minute what looked like a seals nose popped up and then after a couple of minutes vanished.

We have met our probable-soon-to-be new neighbours. Our previous neighbour has gone into a sheltered housing flat not far away. He is 85 and a nice old boy but had been on his own since his sister died a few years ago. The new people are a couple a bit older than us moving here from the other side of Ipswich to be nearer their daughter and because this is a nice quiet road.  So hopefully  no noisy parties!

We voted - 'nough said on that!

And I actually watched a bit of women's tennis from Eastbourne, it's got more interesting now we have a British lady doing well otherwise I can't seem to work out who's who - except for the Williams sisters who always look so fed -up when playing.

Later today- weather permitting - I'm walking to the library - with camera. I promised photos of Ipswich and so far you've only had the view over the town from the top of the next road!

Tomorrow is the start of two weeks of tennis - Yay! and I believe there is a football match too. Come on England! England!

Many thanks for all the words of support and prayers, I think positive thoughts from so many people is sure to help.

Back Soon
Sue

More steps on the way

This blog has always been a diary,  first for the self-sufficient smallholding and campsite, then it charted Colin's un-expected heart problems and since January the 'coping with Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma'  story has unfolded. I've shared details because that's what's happening and maybe someone reading might have to go through the same thing one day and it's always useful to have a bit of information.

Col  has now  been through six lots of chemotherapy with all the problems and side effects and next we have the final and biggest hurdle to jump over.
A special chemotherapy, 9 days of injections to force the stem cells to overflow from the bone marrow into the blood, stem cell harvest (collection), six days of high dose chemo, recovery, stem cell replacement and more recovery which includes up to 4 weeks in hospital in partial isolation. The aim is for remission for as long as possible - maybe up to 7 years - maybe less. There is a risk with stem cell treatment - 5% of people will have problems, some serious. There is no complete cure for this type of cancer.

 So on Thursday it started and we went to Addenbrookes hospital where the stem cells will be collected, over one or two days in July, to have everything explained, see where it will happen and for signing consent forms. Addenbrookes is on the edge of Cambridge and thankfully, now that we are in Ipswich it is easy to get to along the A14 and A11- just under an hour and a half away. Colin made me drive there and back to see how I would cope with the busy road. We used the Park and Ride at Babraham which is not far from Addenbrookes  and saved us trying to find a parking place at the hospital. When we go for the actual stem cell collection we will have to be there very early so should be able to park on their multi-storey car park on site. Thankfully all the other treatment can take place in Ipswich.

On Friday he had a CT scan to check there are no other visible problems, he has already had several blood tests and a lung function test, all to make sure he is as well as possible and fit enough to cope with everything that will be thrown at him between now and the end of July.

 Monday I will deliver him to hospital for 5 hours for the first thing on the list above - he will be prepared for chemo, the chemo itself and then flushing afterwards.Then the injections will start, (we've learned how to mix up the dose and how to safely inject himself) which will give him flu-like symptoms - lovely!

So on we go, one step at a time towards a recovery - roll on Christmas!

Back Soon
Sue

I Like to Keep Busy but.....................

.I really need to finish..................


...................... this cross stitch which needs making into a card ( better iron it first!)
 

.......................and this one I'm still stitching

.................... the small cotton bags need to be cut and stitched to hold the lavender for the sachets

......................... and this big pile of library books need reading

..................plus the jigsaw needs completing

.............and I really should write letters to penfriends and tie up some rain-flattened plants in the garden.

There's probably some housework that needs doing too - if only I could make time for it!


Many thanks for all the cuddly baby comments and to Barbara M for her first ever comment on the blog. AlisonB43 - I hope your tiny  little poorly granddaughter keeps fighting and gets well very soon. Suzanne asked if we will be able to visit our new grandson when Col is better and yes, they are in Surrey but we have the caravan and they'll have trouble keeping us away!( just need to get Colin through the stem cell treatment and the long recovery needed) although by then we will have another grandchild much nearer too - lovely.

And last but not least welcome to new followers Kitty and Debbie.

Back Soon
Sue

Baby cuddles - no apologies for cuteness overload!

 

Nanna Sue meets baby Jacob and has lots of cuddles!

Although he's 3 weeks old he should only really be one week old so is still so tiny.


Grandad Col had so many cuddles - even when baby Jacob was fast asleep!

Col's sister kindly fetched their Dad to bring him over for a 4 generation photo shoot. 85 years meets 3 weeks with the new mum and proud grandad.

 

Our pregnant youngest caught train and bus to visit us to see her new nephew 

Our son squeezed in a  visit very early Sunday morning as he's been working all weekend

And we all spent the weekend watching  the small wonder that is our first Grandson.

I think our daughter and son-in-law were very brave bringing our teeny grandson to see us because of us not being able to go there but everything went well.

No doubt he will have grown a bit next time we see him.

Back Soon
Sue

A short post with news of visitors

Thought I ought to change the header, because the map of Suffolk that I was using came from google and I was reminded on someones blog that people do get fined for using copyrighted images. This rose will do for now until I find something more interesting. My problem is that every time I change the header it takes me an hour to remember how to do it. I always think "must make a note of what I did" but then I don't remember how I got there!

Just finished this book - very enjoyable. It's another one gleaned from the archives of the Mass Observation organisation. What I like about diaries is the immediateness of the writing. This is how people actually thought about things at the time, not what a historian thought several years later.
Small shopkeepers had to work hard during WWII; ration books, coupons and points, information constantly changing, lack of supplies and moaning customers. Most of whom didn't grin and bear it just because the country was at war.
Nothing is known about this lady before the diary and all that's known about her later years is what was written on her death certificate. She was unmarried and had no nieces or nephews, but this little bit of her life has been recorded forever.



Col had his second blood test of the week today and we were both pleased to hear that all the important things (platelets, nutrophils, red blood cells) were all creeping up nicely. This means that the stem cell treatment will be sooner rather than later. We go to Addenbrookes hospital near Cambridge one day next week for the pre-treatment check and chat and for him to sign consent forms. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Very exciting weekend ahead with eldest daughter, son in law and baby Jacob coming from Surrey to stay - just for one night, I doubt they will be arriving very early as H say's it takes her a couple of hours to get organised  and out of the house-  and that's just to go to the shops!

                                                                                 ☺

 Welcome to Barbara - a new follower

Back after the weekend
Sue

Lessen the stress of buying a new washing machine

This is what I used to keep me calm while searching t'internet for a new washing machine! Home made scones with the home made strawberry jam and a nice big mug of coffee.

When I tried to switch my 18 year old washing machine on this morning all the lights just kept flashing, not for the first time!  dodgy electronics is a major problem and I nearly bought a new one when we moved here. Up to today I've switched on and off a few times and it's been OK. Add to this the grubby rubber seal that's starting to perish and leak a bit and the fact that modern machines use less electric, I decided it was time to fork out for a new one.
I started by googling washing machine reviews, then had a look on Amazon and ended up on ao.com as they do free delivery if you choose the right day and £20 off for first order from them. Then a very nice girl rang up to offer me free disposal of the old machine"are you sure it's free? " I asked and she assured me it was an extra bonus for being a first time customer. I've not paid the extra for having it connected as Col says he is feeling well enough to do that. Fingers crossed.
What I won't like is having to learn how to use a new appliance - patience ( i.e reading the instruction booklet properly) is not a virtue of mine!


Thank you for all the comments about charity shops. The Oxfam bookshop would be my first choice for a place to volunteer and my least favourite would be somewhere where there is nothing to do! ( like the people who sit in a room for the National Trust, just occasionally answering questions from visitors, that would drive me nuts). The problem with the bookshop is that's in the town centre so I'd need to pay for bus ticket or car parking - neither are cheap. Anyway I'm not really looking for  a volunteering job at the moment because  with the stem cell treatment coming up soon Col will be be unwell before getting better again so now isn't the right time.

And of course as soon as he is really well again we will be off in our caravan  visiting all those places that I listed somewhere.

Sorry I didn't get round to replying to all the comments. Faith asked about a Suffolk blogger meet up, a lovely idea but are there enough of us? Me, you and Sadie - anyone else in Suffolk ( is there anybody out there?!) Sadie asked if I enjoyed the weather - NO! I got absolutely SOAKED after dropping Col off at hospital and then going to Sainsburys where they had a massive sudden downpour just as I was going back to the car - no rain back at the hospital. The downpour got to this side of Ipswich in the afternoon  and flooded the front driveway! Prolific commentator Galant said she didn't like the cats in the puzzle, well that's OK as you're not doing it - and the "other cottage" is actually a shed!

Welcome to 2 new followers - Sue ( lots of Sues around!) and candbharrison

Back in a day or two or three
Sue

Getting accustomed to a different sort of summer

Moving from the smallholding and campsite to a bungalow in town is taking some getting used to now that summer is here.

 From May to October every year for 23 years I was busy with gardening, growing for sale, young livestock, poultry keeping and selling eggs and looking after the visitors. Suddenly that's all gone and I find that after hospital visiting and normal housework I don't want to spend all the rest of my time reading or cross stitching. I need to have a bit more variety of things to do.
So a  jigsaw puzzle came home from the charity shop with me yesterday

It says it's complete and was only £1 and looks nice and summery. Although it does have some weird shaped pieces and bits with straight edges that aren't really the outside edge. Hmmm maybe a tad annoying.

I've actually been considering if I should volunteer in a charity shop, but I keep getting put off. For instance yesterday there were six of them helping in the Hospice shop but I had to wait for quite a while listening to 3 of the ladies having a debate about what type of hangers men's trousers should now be hung on! Had it been 'officially' changed or was it just their shop manager, how long had it been different and why had nobody told them?
 Aaaaaaagh couldn't be doing with all that.

 Anyway I really need to be at home to take care of Col  at the moment and he is home again - Hooray. Col's brother was taking their dad to hospital for an appointment yesterday afternoon and then up to visit Col but in the meantime they said Col could come home before teatime so Andrew brought him home and delivered me 4lb of strawberries - very handy. I shall be jam making today.

Welcome to  new followers -  Phil in Australia, (who had a blog called house of simple but now has a new blog  called Mr Homemaker), Hippymamax6, Joolz and Christine. Thank you for reading.

Back in a day or two
Sue

Thought for the day.........................

............Who decided tea bags should be in boxes of 40, 80 and multiples? surely 50 and 100 would be more logical.

Oh, I've just noticed two more people have clicked the follower button, so welcome to Bridget and someone else but not sure who.

I finished this new Elly Griffiths book in double quick time and was slightly disappointed, hardly a mention of archaeology at all and  the characters have lost their character (if you see what I mean). This is the 8th novel in the series, this time set mainly in the pilgrimage village of Walsingham in Norfolk. If you haven't read these and you like modern crime novels and prefer to buy rather than borrow, then The Book People have the first 5 on offer for £7.99, and no I'm not getting paid to tell you this - unfortunately!

What to read next? I choose The Year of Reading Dangerously, How 50 Great Books Saved My Life by Andy Miller but Oh Dear, after 40 pages I was already getting cross. A few weeks back I had a book called How to Be Well Read by John Sutherland - his choice of 500 'great' novels, and after flicking through discovered that although I read a lot I wasn't well read at all. Reading The Year of.....  I realised that actually I'm not bothered that I've never read all the books that I 'ought' to have read. That's the difference between me and Andy Miller, he pretended to other people that he had read all the big classics, he was ashamed at what he hadn't read and wanted to  read more of them. Whereas I just can't be ar**d!
Mr Miller has a lot to say about a reading group he joined - it sounded 'awfully pretentious darling' and that is one of the reasons I've never joined one, I like reading, I enjoy sharing my thoughts about books on here but as for dissecting and discussing a book afterwards - No, I'm too busy getting on to the next book!
I see that my friend Mary In Bath has commented yesterday that she enjoyed The Year Of.....  and said it will give me more inspiration for reading, we'll have to agree to differ on that I reckon :-)
There was just one sentence in those first forty pages that struck a chord........ a nineteenth-century German philosopher called Schopenhaeur said "It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them". Oh So True.
 
 We had a good thunder storm and rain on Saturday afternoon, I had the football on TV to keep me company while cross stitching (yep, Col is still in hospital, they won't let him out as his temperature just won't stay steady and his immunity level is at rock bottom) and was expecting the picture to go all peculiar as it did over at Fareacre but then I remembered -Duh! we hadn't got a satellite anymore, we're on Freeview now we're in town, we couldn't get it in the country. Good, no more losing the picture during every storm or heavy rain. We hadn't had any rain for a couple of weeks and everywhere smelled wonderfully fresh.

Please could some of you do something for me? I've noticed that on some folks blog roll my blog is still listed as Frugal In Suffolk - well, as we are now pretty un-frugal especially when it comes to food and buying a beach hut! could you go into the edit bit and change the title, Ta - much obliged.

Back Soon
Sue

Yet more library books........... and a rose

Another load of books brought home from the library. The waiting list was very long for the Elly Griffiths and I'm pleased that it's my turn at last. Guy Fraser-Sampson is a new author to me, he is speaking at the Felixstowe book festival. I've read most of Rachel Hore's books - this is the latest. I think The Fever Tree was mentioned on a blog - no idea what it is. The Year Of Reading Dangerously looks good and The Hogs Back Mystery is another in the British Library Crime Classics reprints. The Attenbury Emeralds is one of the books by Dorothy L Sayers that Jill Paton Walsh finished writing. Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald caught my eye on the returned shelf.
I'll let you know how I get on with them all. (Maybe I should stop ordering from the library for a while and read all the books I'm acquiring elsewhere, then I could blog about it or even write a book, like Susan Hill did with her book Howards End is on The Landing! )(or Not)

I squeezed between the caravan and the shrubs out the front to bring in this rose which is different to those in the back garden but it's a disappointment -gorgeous colour but no scent whatsoever. Which means that out of the 7 bushes here only one is scented.

Have a good weekend everyone, enjoy the weeks of football if that's your thing, personally I'm looking forward to Monday when Tennis from Queens Club starts on TV. Talking TV did anyone catch a programme on BBC4 last night, I hadn't seen it trailed at all but happened upon it by chance, it was called Make! and featured two crafting workshops - Lampshades using textiles and paper cutting, I assumed it was the first in a series but it seems to have been a one off. Pity, as it was quite good and inspiring.

Back Soon
Sue

The £100 book?

Is the book in this photo really worth £100?
Well, there are a few copies on Amazon for sale for that price but whether anyone will buy them is a different matter. I paid 50p - much more realistic. Knowing nothing about it or the author - as I was only drawn to it by a small embossed picture of a farmhouse on the front cover - I came home and looked him up.You can read about him here if you want. Seems he was best known for having an affair with Evelyn Gardner when she was still married to Evelyn Waugh.
So where was this treasure?........... At a midweek boot sale which I ventured to early this morning, held at Needham Market which is just a quick dash down the A14 from here.
(I'm pleased that I am now confident enough to zoom to boot sales along busy main roads! I couldn't and wouldn't have done it a couple of years ago). There were quite a few booters there but most of them looked like traders or dealers and other than the book, only  £1.20 was spent on the wooden train and a pack of notepaper and envelopes.
By 8.30am it was getting hot, and I'd been round once so drove home again via Asda for shopping. Then spent an hour sitting in the garden until it got too hot for that too.

Col, by the way, is back in hospital AGAIN! He just had 3 days out then felt hot and shivery, his temperature was almost 38 so a phone call to the special cancer ward 'hotline' number and they told him to go back again. His neutrophil level was almost zero ( Neutrophils are the white blood cells that protect against infection) so he will be in hospital having frequent platelet, blood infusions and antibiotics and they will keep a close eye on him for at least 5 days. The type of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma he has is certainly a nasty one.

Thank you to penfriends (who read this blog) SW for the little hat for baby Jacob and  WM for the muslin cloths also for our little fella. Both arrived in the post this morning. J, H and baby Jacob are hoping to get here for a weekend soon if we can't get there.

Thank you for comments, now it's time for another half hour in the sun - just in case this is the last day of summer!.


Back in a day or 3
Sue

More views from a beach hut

On a clear day, it's possible to just make out the huge offshore wind farm further down the coast














This boat isn't the RNLI or coastguard but Felixstowe Volunteer Coastal Patrol Rescue Service.
Formed in 1997 to make up for a gap in coverage by coastguards. We've seen it a couple of times on Sundays, zooming along between yacht clubs in the River Orwell and the River Deben






 Both the above were taken a few weeks ago but today we managed to get down to the beach hut again, although there wasn't a lot happening out at sea. Just a few yachts and this wind surfer.

 Although lovely and sunny the wind was really cold and if we had known before I packed up lunch just how chilly it was and that we were going to have to come back to the hospital for 4pm we possibly would have stayed at home where it was about 10 degrees warmer. The hospital thing was for Col to have another platelet infusion, they hadn't got any in for him when he went in for a blood test earlier this morning on our way to Felixstowe.

Last week our son printed off some pictures of baby Jacob and took them in to Col in hospital  to show to all the nurses ( he's been in hospital so many times in 6 months that practically all the Somersham ward staff know our whole life history!). M printed off 2 sets, so on Sunday we invited Col's dad and brother over for tea so they could see their great grandson/nephew and pick up one set of photos to take home.They were also able to look at all the other photos of Jacob on various peoples facebook pages.


 Thank you to everyone for gnome comments and Lizzie asked how life compares generally, living in town compared to the countryside. I think the answer deserves a whole post on it's own........I'll work on it.

Back soon
Sue

The week just gone

Apart from becoming Nanna Sue on the 27th, gazing at pictures of baby Jacob, stitching, sudoku-ing, baking  and watching as much tennis as the weather allowed, I did do a few other things while waiting for Col to come home after chemo number 6. (The really silly thing is that he probably didn't have any infection as nothing showed up in the blood culture. The high temperature was probably due to him having a heat pad round his neck because he felt so achy!) I finally picked him up yesterday afternoon.

So back to last Sunday when I zoomed out of Ipswich early to go to a car boot sale. It was Huge but mostly dealers or people wanting silly prices. All I found was a yellow ink refill for the printer, a big pot of parsley, a babies knife, fork & spoon set and a book about the ENSA organisation during WWII. Total spend £3.80 so apart from the exercise I got walking round, it was almost a waste of time.

I've walked to the shops and post office through this alleyway  passing under these colourful trees

I've been to Asda and seen these most frightening of garden ornaments

The worrying thing is that earlier in the year they had many more than this so some idiots people must have bought them. They even had queen shaped ones and now they have gnomes in swimming trunks!


I went to the library to return some books and  collect a few more. From the picture on last Monday's post two went back unfinished = Deadlier Than the Male was a study of women's crime writing looking specifically at 5 well know authors . It was a bit to literary for me and as it was first published in 1981 it's a

little dated so I just flicked through the chapters on Josephine Tey, Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.  All of the reviews of The Girl from Station X by Elisa Segrave were good but after about 3 chapters I  couldn't be bothered to read on. The mother/daughter relationship was too uncomfortable. I probably should have persisted to find out what exactly her mother did at Bletchley Park during the war but............
Picked up were two diaries. First 'The view from the corner shop' by Kathleen Hey, the diary of a Yorkshire shop assistant in wartime and The Journal of Beatrix Potter - a massive tome of nearly 500 pages.


Then this morning it was the once a month boot sale near Woodbridge. Last month it was Huge, today the weather was foggy and nowhere near as many booters there. So after just  short  look round  I returned home with this small haul.

 Another Sudoku book for 30p, a cotton pillowcase to cut up for the inner sachets of the lavender cases for £1, 3 bird pegs for crafting -50p, yellow-duck hand puppet was 20p - he's brilliant! and all the 7 Josephine Tey books for £2. It's many years since I read some of them and the coincidence of reading about her in Deadlier than The Male and then spotting these books seemed too good to miss.

And here we are - a Saturday at the beginning of June. Although Col has to have blood tests and platelet infusions everyday this week, the weather is set to warm up so we might get to the beach hut  and there is a good tennis final on TV tomorrow - what else can a person ask for!

Back Soon
Sue
PS welcome to Ana and Jan who have clicked the follower button.

Replies to 100+ comments!

There were so many comments on the last 3 posts and I really should reply so...............
Thank you to everyone who wished the infection away so Col could get home, sadly he is still in as they are waiting for the culture to grow to see what it is! He now feels absolutely fine and has had no more high temperatures so it might be nothing at all...........which would be good but frustrating. He won't be out before Friday morning. The man in the next bed died suddenly last night, which is awful for the others in the ward (and for the mans family obviously) because they don't seem to have anywhere to move the deceased away from the ward ........... really horrible for everyone. The nurses were deep cleaning the bed at 4 am - in the ward with 5 people wanting to sleep-  and when Col next woke up there was someone else there already! Our NHS is wonderful but some things could do with extra money/nurses/space etc.

Also thanks for all the comments about little Jacob Rhys - love that name, can't wait to see him.

Simon......the food in Ipswich hospital is awful, it is shipped in a lorry from somewhere in Essex and just heated up in Ipswich. Potatoes are either rock hard or a mush, they don't seem to add any flavourings so things are mostly tasteless. Luckily they do provide the cancer patients with a cooked breakfast if they want it and that is done on site. The cancer ward is the only one with this 'privilege'. The wards do their own toast so at least that's fresh.

Our daughter - the new mum - was only 6lb 3oz so I'm not surprised little Jacob is a small fella, I'm sure he will soon grow.

Thank you to My shabby chic and Mid Suffolk Meadow for explaining the ESA increase

Christine at Bluebell and Violet ( Jacob's other nan/gran) I am extremely envious that you have been able to see our new grandson already! He looks so cuddly and kissable

Ilona - yes you are so right about moving, it has made things much easier.

Jackie in Canada, sorry that your son couldn't continue in archaeology, I hadn't thought about the effect of snow and frozen ground on digs! Our son only ever camped once when on a dig - way back in uni days. Most archaeology work here is short term contracts and so much is done by volunteers that it's not easy to get a proper salaried job - he is very pleased that he'll be able to stay living in Suffolk.

Mary, I'm glad you are enjoying The Shepherds life, it's one I'm adding to my read-it-again list

Jess - Happy birthday to your OH and look forward to seeing you in the Summer, I want all the inside info on what the new owners are doing at Fareacre! Baby Jacob has more hair than his Grandad Col at the moment - Col's hair may grow back white which will look good I think!


Sadie - the cheese straws gave Col indigestion  ( a phase of the after -chemo thing) so I had to bring the rest home and eat them myself !

Lyn at I prefer reading - I've made a note of which Trollope's you recommend as the best to try so will give one a go.

Thank you to Sam who asked if I could speak about blogging at a meeting of small business members in Suffolk. All I would be able to say is that I started not having a clue what I was doing and carried on because I enjoyed it! Oh, and thank you for clicking the follower button.

Sue in Wales - No Col doesn't enjoy watching tennis as much as I do but he's got used to my Month-of-tennis-watching and puts up with it. Good job it's just a month! Our son said that on one of the Sky channels there seems to be tennis on all the time - probably a good thing we only have Freeview - I would never get anything done.


Back in a day or two................do hope the B******weather has warmed up a bit - it's freezing here and so very grey and windy too

Sue