That was September

 The beginning of September still felt like summer but these last days of the month feel distinctly autumnal.  But it's been a good month.

I went swimming three times and for physiotherapy twice.  It must be doing me some good - please!

I led worship both in church and on-line.  

I went to a 50th birthday party.

I had three days dog sitting.

I met with a school friend for lunch and various friends for coffee.  And I had a few zoom chats with friends in various parts of the country.

I entertained a cousin for lunch and also went out for lunch with her.

I got stopped for shop-lifting!

I went to two separate women's groups and heard talks on volunteering at athletic events and on becoming a published writer.  I won't be doing either of those things (beyond the one item I have already published on Kindle).

Hope you had a good month too.  

Last of the summer . . . carrots

 

I've had a mixed summer produce-wise.  

The beetroot has been highly successful and there are just a few left to be eaten in the next few days.

The tomatoes aimed for world domination and I think I have made around twenty-five boxes of soup for the freezer.

The runner beans were not wonderful but there were more than enough for me.  I had already decided that I didn't want to freeze any.  

I grew tromboncino squash successfully but will probably try something different next year.

The rocket grew incredibly quickly and it went to seed before I could eat much of it.  

The cabbage white butterflies enjoyed the tenderstem broccoli.

The lettuces and radishes were good but again I couldn't keep pace with them when it came to eating them.

And on Saturday I pulled the final carrots of an excellent crop and made a delicious soup.

This is my 1000th post.  Thank you for reading and, especially, thank you for commenting.

I look up and I see God

 

   I look up and I see God

I look down and see my dog

Simple spelling G.O.D

Same word backwards D.O.G

They would stay with me all day

I’m the one who walks away

But both of them just wait for me

and dance at my return with glee

Both love me no matter what

Divine God and canine mutt

I take it hard each time I fail

But God forgives, Dog wags his tail

God thought up and made the dog

Dog reflects a part of God

I've seen love from both sides now

It’s everywhere, Amen, bow-wow

I look up and I see God

I look down and see my dog

And in my human frailty

I can’t match their love for me.

This is a simple song by Wendy Francisco.  You can find it sung here.  

The Late Fido

The tree - changed!

 Back in August I introduced my tree to you all.  The bees have been on the tree since August but the time had come for a change so they have gone back to their hive until next summer.

I asked for suggestions and Ang at Tracing Rainbows suggested odd earrings.  I don't wear earrings so don't have any odd ones but she set me thinking and when I saw a pack of autumn charms on a market stall I made plans.

I bought a pack of cheap kidney-shaped earring hooks and slotted a charm on each one.  My tree now has mushrooms, a squirrel, a hedgehog, several different sorts of pumpkins, some maize, leaves, an acorn and other bits and pieces.  They are too small to photograph well on the tree.

And I found an autumn themed vase in our church charity shop so it joined the tree.  (I'm inspired by Sue in Suffolk who regularly does seasonal displays but she's streets ahead of me.)

Time flies!

 

I’ve just written a piece about time pieces for the Mass Observation Archives so I thought I would share some of my memories with you.

 I remember the first watch which I owned.  It was an Ingersol watch on a brown leather strap and was bought by my parents for my birthday soon after I started at Grammar School.  I have no idea what happened to it, but I was very proud of it.

When I was a young woman there were lots of “public clocks”.  There were clocks on display in shops, offices and business places and one could see them while shopping or going about one’s business.  There are still public clocks in railway stations and there’s one on the local council offices but I don’t know of any newish buildings which incorporate an external clock.  It used to be very handy to be able to glance at a clock.

When I was a vicar, one of my churches had a clock.  It was a brute and someone had to climb up a ladder in the tower to wind it.  It was known as the vicar’s clock but no way was I climbing up there.  Church clocks that strike the hours are sometimes known as “the vicar’s pager” but I don’t remember that one being so called. 

 There’s a house about eight miles from here known as “Clock House” as it has a clock above the front door.  It’s really rare to find a clock on the outside of a house.  That house is Victorian.  It stands on a rural road junction known locally as Clock House Corner.  I have passed Clock House regularly for most of my life but I don’t think I have ever seen the clock showing the right time!

Late September

Yesterday, for the first time this season, I switched on the heating.  I've now got a winter jacket in the car.  The heated throw is at the ready by my chair.   Winter is definitely on its way.

The freezer is filling with soups: twenty five packs at the last count.  I've been looking out recipes for casseroles to bulk cook and freeze.  Jacket potatoes are sounding lovely!

I have, at last, started making my Christmas cards.  I've got all the ingredients to start on the first few Christmas puds. (The current list is for sixteen puddings as I give them as presents.)   I've decided what I want to sew for other presents.

I'm listening to Kari Leibowitz: How to Winter: Harnessing Your Mindset to Thrive in Cold, Dark Or Difficult Times hoping that I can be a little more positive about winter than I have in recent years.

But for the moment it is autumn and I might kick a few leaves!  Or ride my trundle truck through puddles.  Or do anything else childish I can think of.  

I keep on trying!

 

The thought of losing much more physical ability frightens me so I try to maintain at least the level of fitness which I have.  

Yesterday four mermaids went to the pool and had a noisy time as we laughed and nattered and swam quite a few lengths.  The others all favour breast stroke, but I'm a back stroke kind of gal so I always swim at one side of the pool so that I don't plough into them.

I know I have to work hard to retain any sort of fitness and I decided to go to a physiotherapist.  I went to a clinic in Brigg which offers assessments and therapy to help with balance and mobility.  Last week I had my assessment. The physio said I'm not too bad considering my age and the injuries I have had. 

This week I start on the proper sessions.  I've already got a few exercises to do at home to build up my strength.  She was very impressed that I swim regularly so I felt I'd got a few Brownie points.  However, she said I'd get even more benefit if I did breast stroke.  

 I haven't done breast stroke for at least twenty years and it just isn't going to happen any time soon.  However, I hung on to the side and just did the leg movements.  I hope this "cheat" won't lose me those Brownie points.  I'll keep you posted. 

Cooking for one

 

Yesterday my cousin Ruth came for lunch.  Pork, apple sauce, new potatoes, ratatouille, peas, cauliflower cheese, roast parsnips.  She's struggling a bit at the moment as her husband has Alzheimer's disease and has recently moved into a care home.  This is devastating for Ruth, as I am sure you can imagine.  Quite apart from her grief for her husband's condition, she is now struggling with living alone for the first time in her life.  

One of the hardest things for her is learning how to cook for one.  Actually, many of my friends have had the same difficulty.  There is less motivation to cook a proper meal, it's difficult to buy suitable small quantities, a meal is no longer an occasion to be shared with someone special.

So, yesterday we shared Sunday lunch and she said it was the best meal she'd had in ages and we talked about how to improve her own food routines.  She noticed I have a meal plan on the fridge door.  I explained that I have to plan how to use things which are not available in small enough packs.  Sometimes they can be frozen but sometimes I need to plan when to eat them.  

She rather enjoyed the ratatouille which I served, so I talked to her about bulk cooking and freezing.  I mentioned the range of soups lurking in my freezer

She loves cauli cheese so I showed her the bag of frozen cauli coated in cheese sauce from which I had taken a small quantity, plonked it in a dish, covered with grated cheddar and bunged in the oven with the pork.  No way would I prep cauli cheese for one, but this way I can cook just as much as I need.

She was impressed by the home cooked parsnips so I mentioned bulk preparation so they can just tossed in oil and cooked in the oven or air fryer but they can also be bought ready prepped.  I mentioned the huge variety of commercially frozen vegetables which could improve her diet.

And I suggested she use a proper butcher so she can get just as much meat as she needs rather than rely on the supermarket.

We talked everything through over some fresh fruit salad which she agreed is much more interesting than a banana or yoghurt, and proper coffee for which I showed her a small cafetiere although I used a big one. And she has decided she will invite me to go for a meal.

Cooking for one has always been the usual thing for me.  What other tips and wrinkled would you add to my list?

A Bit of Betjeman

 

Diary of a Church Mouse

Here among long-discarded cassocks,

Damp stools, and half-split open hassocks,

Here where the vicar never looks

I nibble through old service books.

Lean and alone I spend my days

Behind this Church of England baize.

I share my dark forgotten room

With two oil-lamps and half a broom.

The cleaner never bothers me,

So here I eat my frugal tea.

My bread is sawdust mixed with straw;

My jam is polish for the floor.

Christmas and Easter may be feasts

For congregations and for priests,

And so may Whitsun. All the same,

They do not fill my meagre frame.

For me the only feast at all

Is Autumn's Harvest Festival,

When I can satisfy my want

With ears of corn around the font.

I climb the eagle's brazen head

To burrow through a loaf of bread.

I scramble up the pulpit stair

And gnaw the marrows hanging there.

It is enjoyable to taste

These items ere they go to waste,

But how annoying when one finds

That other mice with pagan minds

Come into church my food to share

Who have no proper business there.

Two field mice who have no desire

To be baptized, invade the choir.

A large and most unfriendly rat

Comes in to see what we are at.

He says he thinks there is no God

And yet he comes ... it's rather odd.

This year he stole a sheaf of wheat

(It screened our special preacher's seat),

And prosperous mice from fields away

Come in to hear our organ play,

And under cover of its notes

Ate through the altar's sheaf of oats.

A Low Church mouse, who thinks that I

Am too papistical, and High,

Yet somehow doesn't think it wrong

To munch through Harvest Evensong,

While I, who starve the whole year through,

Must share my food with rodents who

Except at this time of the year

Not once inside the church appear.

Within the human world I know

Such goings-on could not be so,

For human beings only do

What their religion tells them to.

They read the Bible every day

And always, night and morning, pray,

And just like me, the good church mouse,

Worship each week in God's own house,

But all the same it's strange to me

How very full the church can be

With people I don't see at all

Except at Harvest Festival.

A whole new experience

 I had a very new experience yesterday.  I was stopped for shoplifting!

I need to say for starters that the "accusation" was entirely understandable.  I can't use a shopping trolley like everyone else so I put things into the front basket of my mobility scooter.  I went into a supermarket yesterday and put a punnet of strawberries and a tin of custard into my basket where there were already four carrots obtained elsewhere.  I went through the self service checkout, scanned the strawberries and custard, and paid for the goods.

As I prepared to leave a shop assistant came, asked to see my receipt and asked why I hadn't paid for the carrots in my basket.  I explained that they were not from that store.  She walked away without a further word and went back to chatting with another assistant.  As I passed I suggested that a smile and a "sorry" would have been appropriate.  All I got was "humph" and a rather angry look.  I think she felt deprived of her prey!

As I say, the original accusation was not unreasonable but I feel the store should train its staff to handle such situations better.

Feeling very fortunate

 

Yesterday the gas engineer came and checked the central heating boiler, the gas hob and the carbon monoxide alarm.  This is an annual visit arranged by my wonderful landlord.

Over the year I have built up a very large credit on my energy account so I know that, no matter how cold the weather is, I will be able to have my heating on or wrap myself in a heated throw.

I haven't yet switched on the heating this year but as soon as I do I will go around each radiator and bleed them as I was taught many years ago.

A great landlord.  An adequate income (and the know-how to budget).  Knowledge acquired over the years.  I will not be cold this winter.

Others will be cold.  I am fortunate that I do not have to choose between heating and eating.  

Photographic memories

When I was a little girl the appearance of a camera was a very rare thing.  My parents used to buy a reel of film when we went on holiday and that would result in eight photographs.  I have no photographs of birthday parties, few of picnics or days out.  The record was in my memory.

I have precious photographs of my grandparents and great grandparents and those would also have been precious to them as so few photographs were taken

These days phone cameras are everywhere.  Videos are taken of baby's first steps, of every day out, of fairly ordinary meals.  It's very useful too for remembering where we parked our cars, taking a picture of the shopping list, recording garden produce.

I was listening to a podcast recently when a proud dad said he had over a quarter of a million photos on his smartphone.  OK, within the last couple of years he had got married and become a dad.  Others involved in the podcast had up to fifteen thousand.  And I've sat and waited while someone has found a special photo hidden among thousands of others so they can tell me about their grandchildren.  

I checked my phone.  I have twelve photos on it, mostly taken in preparation for blog posts!  When I've taken a few photos I choose the ones  like best and have a session deleting.  The photos I want to keep are labelled and on my laptop. Who among my readers has the most or the fewest?  Do you label photos?  

Fewer than one hundred sleeps

You know what I mean!

I'm finding it hard to get going with Christmas preparation this year.  I've had several attempts at making my cards but it's just not happening.

I've bought most of the ingredients for making Christmas puddings - the current order list is for sixteen - but I haven't started weighing and mixing.

There's fabric and patterns waiting to be combined but my sewing machine stands idle.

I did say that I would try and do something each month but I have definitely failed at that one!  I've bought and collected a few bits but not enough. 

How is everyone else getting on?  

End of summer

 Jack came yesterday and the garden is now transformed!

He removed the tomato plants and tromboncino and tidied my veg plot.  He took home the green tomatoes and I had the red ones.  It's been my best ever year for tomatoes and I didn't want to ripen the last few.  I've got a few beetroot and carrots still to harvest. 

The ripe tomatoes will become yet another batch of tomato puree which I use for soup. 

He disposed of the runner beans and sweet peas and tidied the flower border.  Runner beans haven't done very well this year and we've decided to grow climbing French beans as an experiment next year.  He's planted some wallflowers too.  

He had his usual bacon buttie and I made some crumble for him to take home to top some fruit he has already.  I had invited him to lunch but he had also been invited out for his evening meal.  He has the remains of a cottage pie given him by a generous hostess.  And he will get the leftovers from a local carvery delivered as well.    He missed out on lunch.  

So I had a solitary meal of salmon, new potatoes, peas and a generous dollop of home-made tartare sauce. 

Don't worry, Jack.  I know you hate waste so I'll eat your share today.

Changing

 

Yesterday afternoon was distinctly brumal and I had to add an extra layer of clothing.  Autumn is definitely arriving after the long, hot (and dry) summer of 2025.  It’s right back-end now.

Leaves are definitely turning.  The horse chestnuts have been on the turn since mid-August but other trees are beginning to go brown now.  The world is becoming aureate and the chiaroscuro is wonderful in the early morning.

 Just so you know

Aureate – golden-coloured.

Back-end – a Lincolnshire dialect word for autumn, meaning the “back end” of the year

Brumal – wintry, but often used to describe the creeping chill of autumn.

Chiaroscuro – interplay of light and shadow

Little Gidding (extract)

 

Little Gidding Church

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all out exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, remembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning;

At the source of the longest river

The voice of the hidden waterfall

And the children in the apple-tree

Not known, because not looked for

But heard, half heard, in the stillness

Between the two waves of the sea.

Quick now, here, now, always--

A condition of complete simplicity

(Costing not less than everything)

And all shall be well and

All manner of things shall be well

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

Into the crowned knot of fire

And the fire and the rose are one.

T S Eliot

Angels tea room

 

It's been my week for going to tea rooms!  I'm taking a service at St Michael and All Angels Church this Sunday and had to visit there yesterday so, of course I called at Angels Tea Room which is run by the church.

Angels is open just a couple of days each week and serves very simple food like paninis, toasties, cake and scones.  The prices are kept very low as they want as many local people as possible to use the place.  It's very chatty and everyone talks to everyone so there's no point in being stand offish!

There's also our charity shop simply called Thrifty's.   This is run by the same team of volunteers as Angels.  Yesterday I bought a couple of small vases and my companion went home with about five jigsaws.  

This fine fellow was screeching just outside.  He will also join in our worship on Sunday!  He's one of a flock of feral peacocks who give the village extra interest.

Curiositeas.

 

So many High Street shops have closed but I've noticed one type of establishment continues to flourish, and that's small, independent eateries.   We've got a lovely one in Brigg called Shipley's Curiositeas.  It's a tea room and cake parlour (that's their own description). 

Curiositeas has gloriously kitsch decor.  Bunting, old china cabinets, lacy tablecloths and wonderfully mismatched china all set the scene for some great local food.  It tend to appeals to an older clientele and both staff and customers are friendly and chatty.

Yesterday I met with a cousin and we went to Curiositeas for a lovely relaxed lunch.  We each had salad followed by Lincolnshire Plum Bread with cheese but we could have had soup, sandwiches, toasties, baked potatoes and fantastic cakes.  There's nothing very fancy or "messed about", just simple home cooking beautifully served.

When I first retired Shipley's was a greengrocer's but it struggled to compete with the likes of Tesco.  Shipley's Curiositeas has a special place in Brigg.  Long may it serve.

Alone

I enjoy my own company which is fortunate as I live alone.  I accept lots of invitation but not all.  I know that my supplies of energy are not as good as they used to be, so I plan how much I will do.  Last week I did very little: this week I will be doing some dog sitting so I shall be more active.

A couple of years ago someone said I was turning into a hermit, possibly because I had declined an invitation to a very noisy family lunch.  And that made me a little defensive so I now record my contacts and make sure that I maintain an interest in the outside world.  

I use my phone and make voice calls but these days FaceTime is often how I keep contact.  I don't write as many letters as I used to but I email and send e cards.  I use zoom a lot: I was in a group chat on zoom last night and have a one-to-one with a friend this morning.  I find this to be great.

But the solitary life isn't easy for everyone.  I phone several people who really don't like alone-ness and experience it as loneliness.  I feel deeply for those who are widowed and who remember days when "alone" meant being with their husband/wife and who find really being alone to be hard.   

The Postie

 

I shop on line - a lot!  I have at least one grocery delivery a month especially when I want frozen food.  I get most of my clothes on-line.  The list could go on for quite a long time.

Most delivery staff are good but both Sainsbury and the Royal Mail are brilliant.  Sainsbury came Saturday and for £1 my groceries were delivered to my kitchen.  Their delivery staff are always cheerful and helpful.  I'm well organised and ready for them and we always have a cheery chat.

The posties from Royal Mail are always lovely too.  They know mine is a dog free house  and there is a seat by my front door which is good as it takes me a while to get to the door.  My recliner chair can be a bit slow getting me to ground level.  I always apologise and they always tell me not to worry.

I had a little giggle on Saturday as when I went to the door the postie was half way down the drive.  Apparently the cat from Number 12 was lurking.  It is known to all the local posties as it attacks them.  I suppose it makes a change from dogs.  

I am most richly blessed.

 

I asked for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

 

I asked for health that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

 

I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

 

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

 

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

 

I got nothing that I asked for,

but everything that I hoped for.

 

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered;

I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

Source: unknown.

Getting the hang of it

Yesterday was chilling mark three.  My third consecutive day without any appointments, any "must-do's"

And I'm getting the hang of it.

I binged on YouTube and iPlayer.

I had a favourite lunch.

I let myself play spider solitaire for longer than I'm actually prepared to admit to.

But that's it (for the moment).  I'm out at (yet another!) birthday party today, leading worship tomorrow, swimming Monday.

It was lovely but I'm glad I now have things I really must do.

Chilling day: take 2

 Wednesday chilling didn't really happen but how about Thursday?

I woke with more pain than usual so that limited my activities, although by mid-morning the pain had largely subsided.  I fancied doing a little cooking so I made soup and froze it, made mayonnaise and coleslaw.  I'd got dwarf beans in my "Waste Not" box earlier in the week so I cooked those and a couple of chicken thighs and made a chicken, carrot and green bean cheesy bake and froze that too.  I find a certain "housewifely" satisfaction when I put meals into the freezer.  I think Mother may have had a similar feeling when she surveyed the fruit she had bottled when I was a child.  

I finished my food prepping around lunch time and celebrated with freshly made soup which was very yummy.  Those boxes of tomato soup are definitely the promise of summer sunshine in mid-winter.

The afternoon was much more leisurely.  I had a snooze.  I knitted.  I did a few puzzles. I had a video call with a friend, and did a WI course in the evening.

I think my legs took out of my control the decision as to whether to chill out.  Thank you, legs.