Tags
azure damselfly, chaffinch, flour, guinea fowl, Pakenham Water Mill, scarlet pimpernel, Suffolk, sunset, topiary, watercress, Waveney District Council Parks and Open Spaces, white campion
This weekend marked the start of my break from driving every day to Norwich. Hooray!! Elinor finished her exams on Friday and we are so pleased with her and, I suspect, she is very pleased with herself.
The previous weekend was very pleasant as Alice came to visit for a few days. We went to see Elinor’s college artwork on display at a gallery in Norwich on Friday 5th June and then had a very enjoyable Italian meal before returning home. The day had started with thunderstorms and heavy rain but the sun came out in the afternoon and we then had some gorgeous warm weather for the rest of the day. We haven’t had much warm weather and it didn’t last.
We went out for another meal that Sunday for lunch to celebrate Alice gaining her PhD. My mother came with us too – I had taken her to church that morning and we all met at the Fox and Goose restaurant in Fressingfield. We returned home and were relaxing with some tea and coffee when my brother arrived. He had gone over to Mum’s house expecting her to be there as he wanted to try out his new lawn-mower on her grass. He did a little mowing and then came over to our house hoping she was with us. She wished she had been there while he mowed, as he cut down her cowslips and bluebells that she had been carefully mowing around while they set seed and died down. She can’t say anything to him about it as he had been so kind but she has spoken a lot on the subject to me. If bluebell leaves are cut before they die down the bulb isn’t fed and the plant may not survive. She quoted a part of ‘A Shropshire Lad’ to me and said she also may not have many more bluebell springs and it would be sad if hers had gone for ever. (I will have to replace her plants if they don’t grow next year!). My brother has recently moved into his new home in Saxmundham, not far from us. He seems to be settling in very well. He got a job transfer from Surrey where he used to live to Suffolk and is getting on splendidly here. He teaches in open prisons and has already been able to put some of the men in for exams which they have passed. It has been very nice for me to see Andrew more regularly. There is only a year and 9 days difference in our ages and we were very close when we were young. He left home at 17 to become a police cadet and then married at 21. We then didn’t seem to have much in common any more and only saw each other about once a year.
The past week was very busy with Elinor’s exams, two shopping trips for Mum and a visit to the eye clinic at Norfolk and Norwich hospital with her for a check-up and of course, my usual chores.
Richard has been taking Fridays off recently, cutting his working week down to four days in preparation for his retirement at the end of August. He came with Elinor and me when I took her in for her final exam on Friday morning and while she was in college we did a little shopping. It was a lovely bright day and not too cold for a change. When Elinor met us we took her to buy some converse trainers she wanted and then went to a coffee shop for a drink and a sandwich. The afternoon was dry so I managed to get some gardening done at home.
Saturday was mainly rainy and cool. Richard and I decided to go out and buy some more good flour from Pakenham Water Mill. We have had two tours of the mill already and it was much too wet to walk in the gardens, so we settled for a cup of tea/coffee and some cake in the tea room. The lady who runs the tea shop wasn’t expecting many people to turn up because of the foul weather, so hadn’t made any of her wonderful scones. There were plenty of other cakes to chose from and the tea and coffee is good there. We bought two 5kg bags of flour from the shop and took them to the car. Before returning home we had a look at the outside of the mill and at the river on the opposite side of the lane.
These were the things we saw before we went back home.
Sunday morning was a very gloomy and chilly one. We went to Morning Prayer at St James’ church. We had rain at midday but the afternoon gradually became dryer until at last, the sun came out at tea time.
Thank-you for visiting!
Gallivanta said:
That spider is SCARY! And despite the awful weather you have seen some wonderful sights. The best one of which was probably Elinor’s work on display. Enjoy your break from driving. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Ann. The spider was enormous – a veritable Shelob! I am already starting to relax and get a little more done about the house and garden now I am no longer driving so much. Elinor’s work was very good, as was so much of what we saw on display created by the other students. Her art teacher was very complimentary and was saying what a joy it had been for him this year with so many other talented and or enthusiastic students. It isn’t always the case apparently. He says he concentrates on collage then!
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Gallivanta said:
Ha! I would have been one of his collage students. 😉 It’s wonderful that there is so much talent amongst the young ones. By the way, your mention of The Shropshire Lad reminded me of a beautiful book I inherited called The Floral Year. It’s by LJF Brimble and was printed in 1949. It gives month by month details (with wonderful illustrations) of all the flora of Britain. Tells you what you will find on the wayside, on walls, different grasses, in hedges …….it’s very comprehensive. And on every page there are poetry quotations. I spotted at least one from Housman. One of the people to whom the book is dedicated in Enid Blyton, in recognition of her unique contribution to education.
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clarepooley33 said:
How interesting! What a lovely book to own. I loved Enid Blyton’s books when I was little but she then went right out of fashion and people were so rude about her mainly, I think, because she was a woman of her time and non-PC. I think things are beginning to change and with a little editing her books are being appreciated again. She wrote about all sorts of things didn’t she? I had a book on Greek and Roman Myths and Legends and one that spoke about all the Christmas traditions and where they came from. An amazing woman.
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Gallivanta said:
I only knew the Secret Seven series and Noddy. I have only just realised that she wrote on Greek and Roman myths, and apparently she wrote nature articles, too. Her first published book was poetry, I think. As with flowers, writers fall in and out of fashion.
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clarepooley33 said:
My favourite stories when I was about nine were the Adventure books – the Castle of .., the Island of.. etc . the children had a parrot called Kiki.
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Gallivanta said:
And as part of a balanced reading programme ( 🙂 ), they did you no harm.
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clarepooley33 said:
Exactly! 🙂
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Julie said:
Thanks for sharing! Congratulations to Alice, did you tell us what she did her PHD in? I really like the topiary, especially the Pied Piper group. What a pickle with your mums grass, I did feel sorry for your brother as he was doing his best to help, hopefully your mum’s wildflowers will bounce back, if they do not I know you will be helping. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Julie. I’m hoping Mum’s flowers will be fine. My brother has no idea that he has done anything wrong and I hope it stays that way but I don’t hold out much hope. The next time he mows Mum’s grass and she tells him to avoid certain plants he will realise he’s already done the wrong thing. Poor man! Alice’s PhD was to do with evaluating intellectual assets. She got an MA in Librarianship from Sheffield Uni and then was asked to do research for them which would result in a PhD. As far as I can work out, intellectual assets are the professional skills people have and it is felt that these skills should have a monetary value. For instance, in libraries,galleries and museums there are many professionals who work hard to conserve valuable objects, learn all they can about them and then teach others. Many of the staff work long hours creating exhibitions, collecting exhibits from all over the world. None of these people get the credit they deserve (or the pay). Many people Alice interviewed felt very aggrieved about this especially when, for instance, they weren’t even invited to the opening night of an exhibition they had worked on.
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Aggie said:
Congratulations to Elinor!
The story of the bluebells matches what my mentor says, which is never to mow the pasture grass, because it severs the available nutrients from the roots which need it. Thank you for that confirmation.
The Houseman poem is lovely.
Your watercress looks different than what we have in the US. How interesting.
Chock full of good stuff, too much to comment on. Thanks, Clare!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Aggie. I hadn’t heard that about pasture grass – that’s interesting. We just make sure all plants with bulbs, corms and tubers are left until the leaves die down naturally. I wasn’t sure about the Watercress. It looked like a photo of wild watercress in an ID book I have but didn’t look too much like the watercress I buy in the shops! Perhaps there is a difference between wild and cultivated or perhaps I’ve got it wrong. It won’t be the first time for that!
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Aggie said:
Just my eyeballs on photos, also, but your photo looks like UK watercress to me. Lou has picked it wild here, and says it looked like the supermarket version. But they both have the same species name. Perhaps I should have taken a botany class. 😉
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clarepooley33 said:
Thanks Aggie!
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Jill Weatherholt said:
Congratulations to Elinor! I sure wish we could get some rain. We’ve had temps in the high 90’s for a week and no rain. The sunset is spectacular, Clare!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jill. Those temperatures sound awful! My husband can’t cope when it gets above 70!
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colorpencil2014 said:
Congrats to Alice and well done to Elinor!! When does Elinor get the results back from her test? And fingers crossed mom’s wildflowers will survive!
How nice to catch up with your brother again! He does do important work. Being caring for the community is in your genes so it seems!
The photos are lovely, even the scary spider. But the stars are Pied Piper and his children! xo Johanna
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Johanna! The Pied Piper and children was so cleverly done. Elinor too exams in four subjects and will get the results on 21st of August. We have a while to wait! It is sad that my brother’s marriage had to end for us to be able to see each other regularly.
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quietsolopursuits said:
Congratulations to both your daughters, Alice for her PHD and Elinor for completing her exams. Also, to you and Richard for raising such great children.
The topiary were really cool to see, no one does it here in the States, at least not many people do.
The weather may not be the best there, but it did give you that wonderful sunset!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry, you’re very kind. Topiary has just recently come back into fashion and I’m seeing it everywhere. A lot of the old houses and stately homes have ancient topiary that was started hundreds of years ago and that is great to see. I find it interesting but I think I prefer to see trees and shrubs looking natural.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
I’m glad you’re getting a break from so much driving. Maybe when your husband retires he can take some of it off your hands.
Elinor must be an excellent artist to be on display at a gallery. Good for her!
The sunset is beautiful and so are the flowers. That’s quite a traffic circle too!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen! Richard hopes to share the driving with me which will be much better for me and my car. Elinor’s art is good but this exhibition was for all the young people on her course at college to display the work they had done throughout the year as well as the artwork they had done in the examination a few weeks ago. It was good to see all the wonderful work they had all done and to see how supportive the staff are who had spent ages setting it all up.
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womanseyeview said:
What a lovely, chatty post and the photos accompanying it were great. That spider must have given you quite a shock! When you talk about the flour you describe it as ‘good’ flour – is it prepared a special way?
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! The spider was enormous. The photo doesn’t really give much of an idea of its size and I’m not quite sure what it was made of. Probably woven willow – it was quite a few metres away on the other side of the river. The flour is wholemeal and is ground three times which makes it the finest and silkiest flour I’ve ever baked with. The loaves rise with no trouble at all and taste wonderful.
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chiaradiack said:
Lovely photos, that dragonfly is exquisite. The topiary is amazing, very clever. Love the mill, how lucky to have freshly ground flour! Thanks for sharing.
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clarepooley33 said:
My pleasure Chiara and thank-you!
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Aquileana said:
Hello there dear Clare!… I love the photographs… I´d say that my favorite is the Scarlet Pimpernel flower…
I bet you enjoyed the outing and the Elinor Fox and Goose restaurant in Fressingfield seems like a great place to eat!… Also congrats to Elinor on finishing her exams… I wish her, you and all your family the very best! Aquileana 😀
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much Aquileana! 🙂
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Ste J said:
It seems like many congratulations all round, the only things I know about Norwich that are not football related are what Alan Partridge has taught me.
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clarepooley33 said:
Ah ha.
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Cynthia Reyes said:
Congrats to Alice and Elinor on their big achievements. This post is one of my favourites. I had an interesting and warm visit with you and caught up with you and your family, while following along on your travels.
I love the part about your brother and his good deed which ended up worrying your mother but she tells you, not him, because she really appreciates his good intent. That is so familiar and familial. There is so much good and interesting news in this post that I just love it, photos and all.
Glad that you can stop the daily driving for a while, but even more so that you can see how far Elinor has come. Both your daughters must make you so proud.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Cynthia. Such a kind comment! Richard and I went to visit my brother in his new house on Saturday. He has bought a large brush-cutter and is looking forward to cutting back Mum’s garden with it! I hope not to be there when he arrives and she has to show him which bits he can touch and which he can’t. He won’t understand why she likes to keep wild flowers/weeds in her garden.
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sherijkennedyriverside said:
Lovely! It’s a shame about the bluebells. My husband did something similar in pulling my columbine’s like weeds by the driveway last year just before they were to bloom! They were encroaching on the drive so I understood his intent, but I had thought to put river rocks around them and create a new garden since they had volunteered to grow there so prolifically. Unfortunately I had not mentioned my idea to him. I also couldn’t scold since I was so pleased he did some gardening. (Not his favorite chore!)
It’s a happy ending this year, since the plants were well established in their root systems and came back strong. I had over 300 blossoms and have collected the rocks to encircle them. I am waiting until they seed and I will dig up and move a couple strays into the center area before setting the stones.
I hope her bluebells fare as well and surprise her by thriving next spring season.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much. I am sure most of them will be back next spring. Your columbines must have looked wonderful! They are a favourite of mine too.
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sherijkennedyriverside said:
If you’d like a peek at my columbines, there’s a post from May 19th that shows part of the garden and one in older posts, just down the page that has a small gallery of close-ups. Enjoy!
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clarepooley33 said:
I’ll go have a look! Thank-you!
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Jane Thorne said:
Congratulations to Alice and Elinor, so very well done. The topiary displays are wonderful…I love it when people’s imagination are given full reign like that. I loved your photographs and could ‘hear’ the water flowing back from the mill wheel….what are you going to bake with your flour Clare? When you get a chance that is….I know you will replace your Mother’s bluebells…loving thoughtfulness flows through your posts…Much ❤ and hugs for you. Xx
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jane! The flour is used mainly for bread but it is so smooth and silky it can be used with white flour for baking scones and pastry too. I am pleased you liked this post. Much love and hugs, Clare xx
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lundygirl said:
I’m really pleased that things are going well for your brother. Congratulations to both your daughters too. I knew the exams were over but hadn’t realised that your other daughter had got her PhD – fantastic!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Rachel – yes she has her PhD subject to a few corrections etc which she has to have done by the 24th July (her 30th birthday!) We are very proud of her. It is unfortunate that it hasn’t helped her get a decent job. My brother is coping very well. It would have been his 34th wedding anniversary on the 20th June if his wife hadn’t decided she no longer wished to be with him. We visited him on the day so he could show us round his house. He was feeling a bit sad and bitter and I was glad we could be with him for a while.
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