I have been thinking for some time that I ought to let you know something of what we have been doing this year but I haven’t been sure where I should start! I will begin by telling you of our recent big family celebration, my brother Andrew’s wedding to Helen on the 12th of May.
Helen and Andrew – my brother and his lovely wife
This photo and the one below I ‘obtained’ from Facebook and they were taken by Andrew and Helen’s friends. I didn’t take any photographs that day and am very grateful to those who did. Don’t they look a happy couple?
Helen and Andrew
Richard and me – taken by Elinor
Alice and Elinor – taken by Richard
The day was a little chilly but fairly bright and it stayed dry until we were all at the reception, which was very lucky.
I had spent quite a bit of time during the preceding months helping Mum find a new outfit for the occasion. I visited many shops, on my own, in a number of towns looking for something she might be happy to wear. The shops had to have easy access and be near to a car park. The clothes had to be suitable in design and price. I eventually got together a plan of campaign and we had a shopping trip just ten days before the wedding. We were very fortunate in finding just what Mum wanted but I am disappointed in not having a photograph of her in her finery.
It was good to see Andrew’s children Natalie and Robert and Natalie’s partner Adam. My sister Francesca managed to take the day off work but her three children weren’t able to attend. Mum was very pleased to see them all.
oooOOOooo
My niece, Natalie specialised in weaving when studying for her degree in Art in London. I thought, as I hadn’t been able in an earlier post of mine to include any photos of the embroidery and textiles I saw at an exhibition, I would mention the work Natalie does and include a few links.
Natalie works for Humphries Weaving based in the town of Sudbury in Suffolk. Here is a short video produced by that company and in it you will be able to see Natalie and her colleague and listen to them talk about the work they do. Natalie is the woman with her hair up and she doesn’t have a Scottish accent!
One of the projects Natalie has been working on for the past few years is helping to conserve the Saloon in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, that wonderful building commissioned by George IV.
Here is an article from the Guardian newspaper about the restoration work.
I also include another film made by Humphries Weaving which explains the work they have had to do and all the detailed research that has been carried out.
I am looking forward to visiting the Royal Pavilion and seeing this beautiful room!
Richard attended Holy Communion this morning at the church of St. Peter in the village of St. Peter South Elmham. He kindly took this photograph for me on his phone.
I attended Solemn Mass this morning at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the town of Eye. I was unable to take any photos as I was busy helping my mother so this link may give you an idea of where I was. One day I intend to write a post about the church at Eye.
During Holy Week we did manage to do a few things on top of all the church-going. We visited Norwich on Tuesday so that Elinor could revisit the exhibition of dolls’ houses currently on display at the Castle Museum. She decided that this was the exhibition she wanted to review for her college interview this coming Wednesday and she needed to check up on a few details and take some more photos. While we were in the city we did some Easter shopping and had an extremely pleasant lunch at the Iron House.
On the way home I stopped off in Bungay to get some more shopping and to order some flowers for the church to be collected on Holy Saturday.
On Wednesday I took my mother out shopping in Diss and she gave me a dozen Hot Cross Buns she had made which I put in the freezer when I got home. Richard and I went to Rumburgh church to tidy it a little before the service that evening. The building works have nearly finished but the dust is still settling on everything. The churchyard is full of cowslips!
Rumburgh churchyard
Rumburgh churchyard
We drove back home and then walked to the corner of the lane to admire all the Jacob sheep and their lambs.
Jacob sheep and lambs
Jacob sheep and lambs
Jacob sheep and lambs
Jacob sheep and lambs
Thursday was quite busy. After the early church service I went into Halesworth to pick up some things I needed and spent some time in town. We had organised a team cleaning session at Rumburgh church for 2 pm but only five people managed to attend – Richard the Rector, Pam and Ian (the other Churchwarden and his wife), Richard and I. We all worked hard for two and a half hours and the church is clean and tidy again with everything back where it should be. We got rid of a lot of rubbish and moved some furniture about too.
Before going out again that evening I managed to wash two altar cloths and a table cloth from the church. They dried quickly in the strong, cold breeze that has been blowing all the week.
Church washing
Friday was Hot Cross Bun Day!
One of my mother’s excellent Hot Cross Buns. They are split, toasted and then buttered.
Not only did we have buns at home but the Rector held a tea at his house after the last service of the day. It was very well attended, much food and drink was consumed and a lot of talking and gossiping was done!
We got a little much needed rain later but unfortunately, just as it started at 5.15 pm we got yet another power-cut which lasted until after 9.30 pm. A power cable was hit by a branch again! I had nothing suitable to cook on the gas hob for our evening meal so we went out to Bungay and had a pizza at the Stonehouse.
I went back to Bungay on Saturday morning to collect the flowers I had ordered and to buy some wrapping paper for presents for my mother whose 87th birthday is tomorrow. I also had to take a large parcel to the post office.
Today we went to the Fox and Goose in Fressingfield for lunch to celebrate both Easter and Mum’s birthday. It was a lovely meal, enjoyed by all of us and then Mum came home with us for the afternoon. The rain that was forecast for today held off until the afternoon so we didn’t get wet.
We have eaten out much more than usual this week, and very nice it has been too!
I arranged to visit Alice in Sheffield on Thursday 23rd February, spend the night in a hotel and return home again the following day. What I hadn’t expected when I bought the train tickets and booked the hotel room was a visit from ‘Doris’ that day too. For those who don’t know who ‘Doris’ is (or who might have forgotten), ‘Doris’ was a storm that caused some disruption here. Fortunately, my journey went ahead with no problems other than a speed restriction. Alice met me at the station and we decided to have lunch together before I went to my hotel. We nearly got blown off our feet on the way to the café, the door of which kept blowing open while we ate, but we weren’t inconvenienced too much by this. I spent a lovely afternoon with Alice either chatting in my hotel room, drinking tea in another coffee shop or buying books.
While I was enjoying myself, Richard and Elinor were having quite an unpleasant time at home. The power went off at about 2 pm and in the garden a few of our belongings started flying through the air despite Richard having tried to make them safe before the storm began.
I wonder if any of you remember how pleased we were when we got our new summerhouse last year? Here is a photo of it.
Our summerhouse when it was new last February.
The summerhouse after the storm this February.
The wind ripped the roof off and the rest of the building just broke apart. A number of trees in the area were blown over and roads were blocked. When I got back to Norwich the following afternoon Richard was a little delayed when collecting me from the station by having to make detours to avoid blocked roads. The power was still off when I got home and the house was cold. Richard and Elinor had coped very well using the gas hob to cook meals and heat water for hot drinks and washing up. They had sat together the evening before in front of the gas fire listening to the battery-powered radio by candlelight. We often get power-cuts living where we do, though not as many as we used to do before the power company changed the cables and started regular cutting-back of tree branches that are too close to the cables. Having said that, we have had six power-cuts of at least an hour this year already. We keep a supply of candles and lamps ready and have torches in all the bedrooms and in the kitchen, utility room and garage. We have a portable gas heater as well as the gas fire and gas hob. We can also use the caravan which has a large battery and a gas supply.
Fortunately, the power came back on later that day. I was very grateful for it as we were expecting my cousin Beverley and her partner Jeremy to visit the following day for an evening meal. I didn’t have the time to prepare all the things I had hoped to, but at least the house was warm and the evening was great fun!
We have been able to claim for a new summerhouse on our insurance and our replacement arrived on Monday of this week. We got an identical summerhouse which had to be put where the old one was which is a little worrying, knowing how quickly it succumbed to the storm-force winds. Richard will bolt it to the concrete base and try to make it somewhat sturdier. We will see what we can do. We lost our old incinerator during the storm and wondered how far it had travelled, but once Richard had taken photos of the wreck and started to clear up the glass and the panels he found it squashed as flat as a pancake underneath one of the sections. I am grateful neither Richard nor Elinor got squashed under it!
Here is our new summerhouse. Spot the difference!
Our new internal doors were due to be fitted that week in February but the storm put paid to that, and, because of storm damage the carpenter had to deal with, we didn’t get the doors until nearly a fortnight later. We are very pleased with them. They look good, they are more sound-proof than the old ones and the doors downstairs are now glazed and let much needed light into the hall. The sliding door to the en-suite WC has been replaced with a better one and the sliding door to the downstairs shower-room has been replaced with an ordinary door which is so much nicer. We will now employ a painter and decorator to decorate the hall, stairs and landing and to paint all twelve doors (we replaced the airing cupboard door too).
ooOOoo
Richard and I have attended a Lay-led Worship Training Course at a church in Beccles. To enable us to keep our churches open, the way forward is for us, the members of the church to take the services ourselves if there is no priest to lead us. This will be very useful to us when our Rector retires in the summer. The four-part course was interesting and well-attended and it gave us the opportunity to meet people from other churches in the Deanery. Our Deanery is made up of a number of benefices from Halesworth, Bungay, Beccles, Southwold and the villages in-between.
ooOOoo
We have carried on with the usual round of duties and chores; hospital visits, blood tests, appointments with opticians, hairdressers, acupuncturists and chiropractors; housework, gardening, shopping. We have all had bad colds. I continue to take my mother to church once a fortnight and join Richard at church in our benefice when I can.
Richard went to visit his brother Chris in Manchester for a few days recently and had a very pleasant time. On his return we took part in two quizzes. Last year we had been in a team that had won the quiz held in the village of Walpole. Part of the ‘prize’ was the honour of composing and presenting the following year’s quiz and Richard offered to take it on. The time for the quiz duly arrived and he did a fantastic job as Quizmaster (I was his assistant) and he was presented with a bottle of wine as a thank-you gift. The following night we were at the village of St James taking part in the quiz to raise funds for the Harleston Choral Society. A meal was included in the fees – very good it was, too – and the questions appealed to me more than usual as there were more music ones and fewer sport! Our team managed to win again.
ooOOoo
We celebrated Mothering Sunday on the 26th of March and it was our church at Rumburgh’s turn to hold the service. I helped make a few posies to present to the mothers or for people to give to their mothers or take to graves. Though we have no flowers in church during Lent I was asked to provide some flowers to put in the porch.
The flowers in the porch. Looking at this little work of art, you may be surprised to know I am not a flower-arranger 😉 The flowers are lovely in spite of my ministrations. As you can see, the porch is in urgent need of work. If nothing is done soon, the porch will collapse and we won’t be able to use the church.
The church was a little disorganised because we are having a tower screen fitted at the moment and there was dust everywhere. We have been saving for years for this improvement! We put everyone as near the front of the church as possible (well away from the building works) sitting in the choir stalls, which was very pleasant. Richard our Rector chose lots of good hymns and his sermon was amusing and instructive. I brought my mother to our church for a change and took her back home afterwards. I couldn’t ask her to lunch because I had no time to prepare a midday meal but she came for an evening meal instead.
This is the new tower screen. You can see the framework for the glass which has yet to be put in. There will be a glazed door at the bottom of the screen.
We will now be able to see and watch the bell-ringers as they ring before our services.
ooOOoo
I will end this rather wordy post with some photos of the flowers in our garden starting with my favourite iris reticulata that bloomed for too short a time in February.
Miniature iris
Miniature iris
Miniature iris
Miniature irises
Crocus
Crocus
Crocus
Mahonia
Mahonia with a bumblebee
Winter-flowering honeysuckle
Miniature daffodils
My music selection is ‘Handle With Care’ by the Traveling Wilburys.
Before I resume my Highlights posts from last year I thought I’d better write something about this new year.
Frosty path next to our big pond
There have been lots of frosts this month; probably more frosty mornings than non-frosty which makes a pleasant change. The last two winters have been quite mild with frost being a rarity. We have had some rain, even a day of snow (it didn’t hang around for long) and a fair amount of fog. The best days have been the sunny ones; a sparkly start to the day and then blue sky until sunset. Freezing nights with countless stars and a moon latticed by the bare branches of trees. Today the temperature stayed at -2 centigrade and a very cold wind and thick cloud made it unpleasant to be outside.
Full moon
Full moon
My life has carried on as usual – driving Elinor to college in Norwich, taking Mum shopping, to her hospital appointments and to church once a fortnight and when I am at home, basic household chores. I have been very tired this month so haven’t done more than necessary! I went to see my Rheumatoid Arthritis clinician at the hospital for a routine appointment and she seems to be pleased with how I am coping and doesn’t think I need any change in my drug regime. Richard is feeling much better, though still has some problems with his leg and back. He is driving again and we have resumed our sharing of the driving and shopping duties.
Birch tree in the breeze
I mentioned at the end of last year that Elinor had decided to try acupuncture to see if it helped to reduce her anxiety and its symptoms. She had three appointments before Christmas and has had three more this month. She would have gone this week but it was cancelled as the practitioner has ‘flu. Elinor is continuing with it, despite it being quite uncomfortable at times, because it has made a difference. The first session caused her to feel calm for the first time in her life and the effects lasted for nearly 24 hours! Not all her sessions have been as effective but since Christmas we have all noticed that she has been able to make decisions more easily and has had the courage to do a few things that for some time have been beyond her capabilities.
Dunston Hall
The venue for her treatment is Dunston Hall, just south of Norwich, which is a mock Elizabethan building constructed between 1859 and 1878 but is now a hotel with spa, beauty and therapy treatment rooms, a gym, a pool and outside, a golf course, driving range and football pitch. The acupuncture reception area and treatment rooms are ‘below stairs’ and I have become used to sitting on a sofa listening to ‘ambient’ music, attempting to read a book and trying to keep awake while waiting for Elinor.
Dunston Hall
She had her 20th birthday on Saturday and we went out for a meal together that evening. She felt a little unhappy to think that her whole teenage years were given up to anxiety and, because she has no friends, she had to celebrate her birthday with her Mum and Dad. Richard and I felt so sorry for her and wished there was something else we could do to help her.
The following day was quite eventful because she announced that she had decided that the college course she has been studying since September was not one she was happy with and was considering giving it up! We spent the day discussing this statement and even though it does sound like a negative step I am amazed that she has been able to come to this conclusion. She has been studying Graphic Art because she is interested in illustration work and had been told this course was the best one for her. She has struggled with it and has not been able to attend many of the classes. I have suspected for some time that she found it unsatisfactory but until this weekend she has said she thought it fine and was going to continue with it. She has been told of a one-year-long Art and Design course at the college for students who are 19 years old and older and this is what she intends to apply for. This week she has been talking to her tutors and support staff and has explained the situation to them. Her final day is tomorrow when she will try to apply for the new course and discover if there are any short courses she can attend in the meantime.
A bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) in my winter-flowering honeysuckle. I opened the kitchen blinds this morning and saw two bullfinches in the honeysuckle. I found my camera and because I didn’t want to disturb the birds too much I crouched down by the window and took this poor photo while peeping over the window sill. I now know why I haven’t had many flowers on the shrub this winter!
We had a beautiful day here on Monday and wanted to go to the coast for a walk to enjoy the cold but still and clear day and also to recover from our surprise the day before. Because of other duties we had, we didn’t set out until 3.30 pm and it was nearly sunset when we got there.
Before Christmastide draws to a close I thought I’d better write something about what we managed to do over the past few weeks.
This is the Advent Crown that Elinor and I made this Christmas. The first candle was lit on the first Sunday in Advent.
Norwich Market
Norwich Market
The 1st of December began with a frost (we had many frosty and foggy days in December) but by the time I had driven Elinor into Norwich for her afternoon classes at college it had clouded over and had become a little milder. The light wasn’t really good enough for photographs but the city had recently put it’s decorations up and was looking festive, though these photos make it look rather gloomy!
During the whole month, unless I got to the city before 9.00 am, I was unable to find a parking space in any of the car-parks. Norwich Council would like their visitors to arrive by train, bus, bike or on foot and don’t make it at all easy for car drivers. There is very little public transport from where I live so we have to drive into town. There are ‘park and ride’ places on the outskirts of the city but an acquaintance of mine queued for ages to get into the car-park and then waited an age with crowds of other shoppers for a bus which was full before he got to it! He returned home without doing his shopping. I have discovered a roadside parking area near to the college where I get two hours free parking and which is only a fifteen minute walk away from the city centre! This is where I had parked that day. I had coffee and a sandwich in a café and did some Christmas shopping and then made my way back to my car.
The Coachmaker’s Arms
This former coaching inn is on St Stephen’s Road and was built in the 17th century on the site of an asylum. The pub is said to be haunted.
An attractive frieze outside the pub showing what the inn might have looked like when first built. It was near one of the many city gates
For most of the month, Richard was still unable to drive any distance and was very bored being at home all the time. On the 2nd of December he joined Elinor and me in the car and after I had dropped Elinor off at college just before 9.00 am we drove to the north Norfolk coast and spent the morning in Cromer.
Cromer Pier
The tide was in. Looking westward.
Looking towards the east.
This is a photo of a very tame Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) who had decided that a good living can be made by following visitors about and eating food crumbs. It behaved just like a feral pigeon!
We were so surprised to see this bird at such close quarters! Normally they keep their distance from humans and find worms and molluscs etc. on the shore.
Cromer Pier
There was a large amount of spray coming off the sea
The sand and stones on the promenade show how high a recent tide had been
Boats out at sea
An off-shore wind-farm
A rainbow
Richard walking towards the beach changing rooms
Cromer cliffs
After walking along the front we then visited the pier.
View from the pier
Looking back towards the town
Cromer
We visited the Lifeboat station at the end of the pier
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Part of one of the boards listing all their call-outs. I chose this because I was born in 1958
This is one of the war-time boards
Richard in one of the shelters on the pier
‘The Wellington’ – one of the pubs in the town
Returning home from shopping the following week, Elinor and I marvelled at the beauty of this misty sunset
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Christmas flower arrangement around the font at our church at Rumburgh
Richard and I had a lot to do at church this Christmas. At the beginning of the month we had an Advent Carol Service with all our favourite Advent hymns and Advent readings. Usually we have a Carols and Capers service with the local Morris group and their friends at the beginning of the season but sadly they were unable to organise it this time. We had a Christmas Carol service on the 21st of December and then our church hosted the Midnight Mass service on Christmas Eve too.
I had made an Advent Crown for church too
We went for a walk on Westleton Heath on Boxing Day
The gorse (Ulex europaeus) was in flower
In the autumn this area of heather is a rich purple colour
Alice, Elinor and Phil, Alice’s boyfriend who stayed with us this Christmas
Phil up a tree
Richard, walking without a stick now!
Trees on the heathland as dusk fell
Sunset
Melting frost on the outside of my bedroom window
These following photos were taken by Richard in our garden that same morning.
Hoar frost on a Hogweed seedhead
Hoar frost on rose leaves
Our big pond
Frost and fog
Frost and fog
Richard and I went out for a walk across the fields on New Year’s Eve. The weather was very gloomy and I didn’t find much to photograph.
View across the fields
View across the fields
Yet another view! Note the large toadstool – bottom right of the photo.
The large fungus!
And that was my December which also included Christmas celebrations with much cooking and baking, a lot of driving about, lots of shopping and an amazing amount of housework!
This year has been….unsatisfactory. Nothing terrible has happened. We are in fairly good health, we are comfortable and very fortunate. But….almost everything we have tried to do this year has not been straightforward. There have been delays, cancellations and anxieties. I think the last update I wrote on our affairs (this is after all a diary blog) – apart from our holidays, a couple of outings and a few posts of things I’ve seen – was in the spring. I seem to have had less time than ever before for getting things done.
We visited Lowestoft on Tuesday this week so that Elinor could attend a podiatry appointment. The weather was cloudy and damp but fairly warm for the time of year. This is Lowestoft South Beach
Richard’s first year of retirement was meant to be a year in which we improved our lot. Retirement after over 40 years of continuous employment was always going to be a bit of a challenge but he decided he was going to see how the first six months went before making any decisions about what he would do with his time. He has found that he doesn’t miss the work at all though he does miss the social aspect of going out to work. Living in the country, some miles from the nearest town means that we don’t see people very often and we have to work hard to get any kind of social life – or go without. He has come to no decision as to whether he takes up a hobby, does voluntary work or any other activity; he has been too busy with the house and driving Elinor about. He has been a church warden for many years and is a member of our church’s PCC (Parochial Church Council). He has recently joined our local Parish Council too so he has employment enough!
Gulls on the breakwater
His retirement began with the death and funeral of his mother, which was not a good start. He has missed her very much; her support of him, her good sense, her understanding. Our holiday in the Peak District this year was taken at the anniversary of her passing and those of you who have kindly followed this blog for over a year will remember that we heard of her death last year as we arrived in the Peaks all prepared to go and visit her.
Looking towards Lowestoft docks
Richard has enjoyed working in our large garden and making a few improvements to it and to our house. We started the year by getting all our windows and doors replaced. We have a new summerhouse and a new potting shed. Our next project was to gut the family bathroom upstairs and the downstairs shower room and get new suites for both rooms and then redecorate. We asked around for suitable plumbers and a couple were recommended. We selected one and he came to see us and plans were made. It was decided that we would also have a water-softener fitted which was done as soon as the downstairs shower room was finished. And this is where things really went wrong. We hadn’t been happy with the speed at which the work was done. Days went by when no-one turned up. There were delays and more delays. We said that the upstairs bathroom would have to wait until we returned from Germany as we didn’t want anything left half done while we were away. The plumber failed to return. He has made no contact with us and has not responded to any of our messages. We had already paid him, at his request, for the work done to the shower room and for the water softener (we ought to have smelt a rat here!) but there are still a few things that need to be finished off properly in the shower room, ‘snagging’ it is called, which now will never be done except by us, in our non-professional way. We have a garage full of bathroom fittings and tiles and also some of the plumber’s and his men’s tools and equipment which they haven’t collected. We must find ourselves another plumber but we cannot face the upheaval until some time in the new year. I hope the work is done at a time when it isn’t too cold!
Off-season seaside resorts are a little sad and quiet
We have just had our gas boiler replaced. We use propane gas as we aren’t on mains gas here in the country. It is very expensive but the alternatives, oil or electricity, are not ideal either, both being very expensive too and as we have a gas fire and a gas hob, a gas boiler is the best option for us. We found a gas fitter who was able to get the work done during the second half of October. It was to take three days. In the end it took quite a bit longer as inevitably, problems were found. The fitter wanted it all done by the end of October as he was going to Las Vegas to celebrate his son’s 21st birthday and he did manage to get his part of the work done by then. He arranged for an electrician to come and wire the boiler up but the electrician couldn’t come immediately and when he eventually came he had difficulty with the system. He got it done, so he thought, and we thanked him and sent him on his way but when the boiler switched on the water heated but the pump wouldn’t work. We called the electrician back and he tried again. It still didn’t work. We contacted the fitter when he returned from Las Vegas and he eventually got it going. It took two and a half weeks to fit the boiler and the weather had been quite chilly! Fortunately we have an electric immersion heater which meant we still had hot water, a gas fire in the living room and a portable gas fire which we put in the hall at the foot of the stairs. Elinor got the electric fan heater in her room and the fitter left us another electric fan heater in case of emergency. We wore lots of layers!
At the same time as the gas fitter started work Richard began experiencing severe pain in his leg and back. He saw the doctor who gave him lots of tablets and lots of advice. He was in agony but manfully struggled on until he found that his leg was becoming numb and it was unable to take any of his weight. He fell over a couple of times and hurt himself. We phoned 111 and the medics there passed Richard on to the out-of-hours doctor. I took Richard to Beccles hospital to see the doctor that evening. Richard has a partially slipped disc in his back and a trapped sciatic nerve – not full sciatica as he could still feel his foot! He has still managed to fall over a few times since then – falling down the stairs while I was out with my mother for the day; falling over in the garden while I was out again – but at last the feeling is beginning to return to his leg and the pain has subsided. The hope is he will gradually be able to do more things and the feeling will come back completely. He has been told it will take four to six weeks. At first, he could hardly walk even with a stick and was unable to drive at all. He can now drive very short distances but the damage is in the leg he uses for the clutch pedal and he doesn’t trust himself to be able to do an emergency stop, to drive in heavy traffic, to drive far. I am doing all the driving at present.
The sea front with Richard and his walking stick
Elinor’s college course since September this year only asks for her to be at college for two and a half days a week. Richard is at home most of the time now he is retired. I must admit I miss my alone time and my routines have had to be changed to accommodate these other domestic changes. One good thing is that Richard and I now (usually) share the duty of driving Elinor to college and I found a little more time to work in the garden this summer! I still visit my mother a lot and take her shopping and to her many hospital, doctor’s and optician’s appointments. She is gradually losing her sight and as each month passes I notice she has less energy and is less interested in doing things. I take her to church once a fortnight; the intervening week I go with Richard to our church. I miss going to church in my benefice every week; I miss the people, the churches, the services and the preaching. But, my mother needs me and I can’t let her down. I like my mother’s church and I am so pleased to be able to help her do what she needs and loves to do. There used to be members of her church who collected her and brought her home but not any more. The people who used to do it have either died or moved away and as her church is some miles from where she lives there is no-one now who could easily collect her.
The sandy beach
Elinor did really well at the end of the course she took last academic year. She re-took her GCSE Maths and managed to get a ‘C’ grade which is what she was hoping for. She never has to go to a Maths class ever again! She also got a distinction in her Art and Design course and everyone was very pleased with her. She applied for and got a place on the two year Graphic Art course she had wanted to go on the year before. Despite this achievement she is unhappy that yet again she is the oldest one on her course and cannot find anyone interested in being friends with her. She is lonely. She has been extremely anxious and has struggled to attend college during the past few weeks and has found that working at home has been difficult too. She is frightened of making mistakes and that her work might not be of high enough quality. So she prevaricates and then avoids doing anything and then panics when she realises she is behindhand. It is impossible to convince a chronically anxious person that their fears are unfounded so life at home has been distressing for us all. There is no escape from the constant pressure of it. It is our elephant in the room; except it isn’t an elephant as they are too nice. It is a troll, a gremlin, a monster, a sickness that is almost palpable and it is ever-present.
A Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) eating the tiny crabapples on our species crabapple tree. The Fieldfares have just arrived for the winter from where they spend the summer in Scandinavia
There is however, a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We have tried over the years, many different ways to deal with Elinor’s mental health issue. In our ignorance at first, we attempted the stern attitude. Well, that failed spectacularly. We then saw many different therapists who tried countless different methods of finding out why Elinor is as she is and then attempting to help her by getting her to talk about things, them talking to her about things, giving her Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and oh, all sorts of therapies. Last winter we even resorted to drugs at the insistence of her GP (family doctor). The side effects were awful and it took until the summer for her to stop getting flashbacks and nightmares.
The Fieldfare again. They are beautiful and fairly shy birds.
A couple of months ago my hairdresser told me that she was seeing an acupuncturist because of depression and anxiety. The affect on her health and happiness had been astounding and she was feeling better than she had for years. She had had regular appointments at first but at the time of talking to me about it she was only going back now and again for ‘top-ups’. This got me wondering if it would be something that Elinor could try. I carefully spoke to Elinor about it but she refused to contemplate the thought of someone sticking needles in her. I tried again two weeks ago when Elinor was tearful and desperate for some kind of relief. She said she might be willing to think about it. She thought, and ten days ago she thought we might do some research into it. She then agreed that it was something she would be willing to try… but those needles..! On Thursday last week while Elinor was in college for her half day I went to see my hairdresser to ask for the name of her acupuncturist. By a happy chance this lady was having her hair done at that moment and agreed to talk to me. I have made an appointment for Elinor to see her next week. We will see what happens.
A small Common toad (Bufo bufo) hitching a ride in the wheelbarrow
Alice, my elder daughter who lives in Sheffield, has directed her first play. It was a great success and Alice enjoyed the experience but found it exhausting. We thought she would need a rest from her drama group for a while but she tells us she ‘accidentally’ auditioned for their next play and got cast! Can anyone explain how one can accidentally audition for a play?
A Scabious flower from the garden photographed in October
She had become unhappy living in the house she shared with a few other young people – they were fine but the landlady was awful – so she gave a month’s notice and found another house with a room to let and moved in at the beginning of this month. She has bi-polar disorder and if she gets over-tired or anxious her health deteriorates. The play and then moving house caused her to be very tired and quite anxious so she did feel under-the-weather for a while. She applied for another six-month temporary job at a higher grade in the university library department where she works, got an interview last week and has been successful! She hopes to start the job at the beginning of next month. Yet again it is only a part-time job and is only for six months but the money is better than what she gets at present and one must never look a gift-horse in the mouth – as they say.
Dog-rose hips (Rosa canina)
There we are. A resumé of most of the events of the past year with many gripes and groans included. What I intend doing is to post a few photographic highlights of the past six months (yes, there were a few highlights!) during the next few weeks. I hope to intersperse these with some current affairs on the approach to Christmas. Whether I manage any of it, who can tell!
Hawthorn berries (Crataegus monogyna)
I leave you with my music selection which is the Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s opera ‘Peter Grimes’. Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft and lived for many years a few miles further south along the coast at Aldeburgh. I love the music from Peter Grimes and these interludes give a taster of the opera as a whole but without the singing! The four interludes are entitled ‘Dawn’, ‘Sunday Morning’, ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Storm’ and the playing time is about 17 minutes.
When we moved to Somerset for 18 months twelve years ago I was very homesick and I listened to this music a lot while we were there to remind me of the coast I love. Looking through the comments on the different recordings on Youtube I find I am not the only person to find this music, especially ‘Dawn’, so evocative of the Suffolk coast and the North Sea.
On our second full day on holiday we thought we would go and see the Triberg waterfall which we were informed is the highest waterfall in Germany. (In fact, it isn’t as Rothbach Waterfall in Bavaria is the highest with a single, vertical drop of 470 metres.) We had a short walk through the town to the nature park entrance where we were able to get free entry by using the guest-card that the hotel had given us on our arrival.
Just a few minutes walk brought us to the waterfall.
The waterfall is a series of seven cascades falling 160 metres into the valley.
The waterfall can be heard in the town.
The paths and bridges have been carefully designed to enable everyone to see the falls clearly.
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I didn’t just photograph the waterfall. There were plenty of plants that interested me, some I recognised and others I still cannot put a name to.
Touch-me-not Balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere)
Fungus
Lichen
Unidentified yellow flower
Slime mould
Moss
More moss
Hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius) ?
Orange-coloured fungus.
Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)
Wood Sage (Teucrium scorodonia)
Wood Sage flower spike
We also saw glimpses of Red Squirrels, which are not rare in Germany, but they were too quick for me and I was unable to photograph one.
I was very pleased that I managed to photograph a Nutcracker, a bird from the crow family. They are one of the smallest crows at 12.5 inches long, even smaller than a Jackdaw, and they were moving about quickly in the undergrowth feeding newly fledged young.
Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) on a tree-stump
This is the above photo which has been cropped
Nutcracker
Nutcracker
Nutcracker
Only one of those photos was cropped though I had to use the zoom on my camera to its fullest extent for the rest!
There were a few commemorative plaques placed on the rock face; this one is for Otto von Bismarck.
Bismarck commemoration
This one is for Ernest Hemingway
On the right are his dates of birth and death under a note saying that Ernest Hemingway visited Triberg in the Black Forest in August 1922 where he indulged in his passion for fishing. There is a quote from ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ on the left where he talks about a trout-fishing trip to Triberg.
We enjoyed our walk through the forest and before returning to our hotel, indulged in some more coffee and cake!
We recently had an eight-day holiday in the Black Forest in Germany. Richard organised the whole trip on his own, booking the hotel independently and then contacting Deutsche Bahn who recommended a route for us to take. We enjoy travelling by train! On previous trips we have used couchettes or sleeping cars but Elinor said that she’d rather we didn’t do that again so we managed to get the whole journey done in one day, setting off from home at 4.30 am and getting to the hotel just before 9.00 pm (8.00 pm British time) the same day.
We drove to Ebbsfleet in Kent where we left the car and went through passport control and customs before boarding the Eurostar.
The view from the waiting area at Ebbsfleet
Richard and Elinor eager to board the train!
Modern high-speed trains are usually very pleasant to travel on. The seats are comfortable, there is no jolting or bumping and there is hardly any engine noise. We seem to slide through the countryside at 140 mph almost as though we are hovering above the ground rather than fixed on tracks. The only downside is travelling through tunnels which make my ears pop and not being able to see the scenery at times because of sound barriers built next to the line near towns and villages. The tunnel under the English Channel only takes 20 minutes to go through and the train is travelling at a mere 80 mph. This rate of travel is still very surprising to me; I have always journeyed by train and my first train trip to the Continent when I was 14 years old began at Victoria Station in London. That first leg from London to Dover took about an hour and 40 minutes. We went through customs and then boarded a ferry to Ostend in Belgium. The sea journey took three or four hours and we then caught a large train to Paris. It was very exciting! Everything looked and smelt so different. I remember setting off from London about midday and eventually getting to Paris that evening where we ran from one station to another dodging the crazy traffic and quickly finding something to eat before we boarded the sleeper to Munich.
But back to our recent journey – the Eurostar took just over two hours to get to Brussels where we had a couple of hours wait for our next connection to Cologne.
Here we are having some lunch at a café near the station in Brussels. Richard is just posting a photo of his beer on Facebook……
Jupiler Belgian Pils
….and taking a picture of me and Elinor. I see that I am looking very tired which is not surprising as I had only had two hours sleep the night before!
It was so pleasant to be out in the sunshine and the lunch was exceedingly good. What I found sad was the sight of armoured cars and armed soldiers and police everywhere. With all the terrible attacks all over Europe it is not to be wondered at but I find it very upsetting all the same.
Our next train arrived on time and we were soon on our way to Cologne.
This is the station at Liege-Guillemins – the first stop on the way to Cologne. It is a beautiful building; Richard was able to take this photo through the window while we were there.
The last time we passed through Liege, work had begun recently to up-grade the tracks for high-speed trains. I don’t remember seeing this station then. Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava designed the building and it really is superb.
I think this might be us arriving at Cologne. Richard took this view of the River Rhine through the train window.
We had a 40 minute stop in Cologne where we dashed about looking for food as we would be arriving too late at our hotel for a meal. Our next high-speed train took us to the small town of Offenburg where we needed to buy more water as we had forgotten this in Cologne. Luckily, there was a drinks dispenser on the platform and we bought two bottles of ice-cold mineral water. By this time the fine weather had disappeared and it was raining hard and quite chilly.
Our last train was a double-decker local train to Triberg which travelled through very scenic countryside, though by this time it was very gloomy and wet and after 8.00 in the evening. We had arranged with the hotel for a taxi to pick us up at the station and as soon as we got off the train we were halloo-ed by the driver who was over on the opposite platform.
He drove us quickly to our hotel where we booked in and found that our other suitcases had already arrived and were waiting in our rooms. We had decided to use a company called ‘Luggage Mule’ to help get all our belongings on holiday. Lugging heavy suitcases on and off trains is a back-breaking business and as we usually need a large case for our medication alone we thought having someone else do the lifting was a good idea. The cases were collected six days before our holiday started and I found packing this far in advance quite tricky. Inevitably, there were things I wished I’d included and hadn’t and things I wished I hadn’t included but had! We were amused by the list of things that we were forbidden to pack. As you will see from the list, we had to leave our sink behind! We still managed to find more things we couldn’t do without for eight days to fill two smaller suitcases that we carried with us on the journey (see the second photo above)! Three washbags, cosmetics, medication for three people with chronic illnesses, Elinor’s books and drawing materials, her laptop and my notebook PC, shoes we had forgotten to pack earlier, coats etc made us look like a normal family going away for a week.
Our rooms in the hotel were comfortable and spacious and we slept well after our long day. The following morning we enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast and then had a short wander round Triberg, the town where we were staying.
View from our window
View from our window
Our hotel. I took this photo the last evening we were there.
Another wing of the hotel is on the left of the photo. Ernest Hemingway stayed in this hotel when he visited the Black Forest.
It wasn’t a warm day and there was a mixture of sunshine and showers but we saw that it was a pretty place though very busy with tourists like us.
This is one of many cuckoo-clock shops in the town – I took the photo near the end of our holiday when the weather had improved.
As you see from the picture we had arrived in the land of large teddy bears. Two worked unceasingly at their clock-making and another abseiled up and down the outside of the shop all day.
The top of the town with the River Gutach in amongst the trees at the bottom of the photo.
This is a little garden in the centre of the town. There are two large carved figures here that look like Easter Island statues with red balls on their heads.
I believe these statues represent Triberger women in their distinctive national costume and their Bollenhutte (hats with pompoms).
Photo taken from Google images
After our walk about the town we returned to the hotel for a few hours to rest and then at about 4 o’clock we went out for ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ (coffee and cakes) Our breakfast had been so satisfying that we hadn’t needed lunch but by mid-afternoon we were in need of a little something to eat. The cake shop opposite the hotel served the most delicious cakes!
Café Adler – the cake shop
In the evening we went out for a meal at a restaurant close to the hotel. For the time we were in Germany we tried to eat local Black Forest food for every meal. It was all very good indeed though I found there weren’t as many vegetables as I am used to in these dishes which were mainly meat with potatoes or arborio rice or noodles.
One of our favourite places to eat
In the next post I will describe what we did while in Germany.
We arrived back home last Wednesday after spending eight days in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest). It was probably the hottest day of the year so far and we spent it travelling by train up from Triberg, Germany to Ebbsfleet in Kent (England) where we had left our car. We set off from the hotel at 6.30 am European time and got home just after 7.00 pm British time (one hour behind Europe). The car thermometer said it was 32C (89.5F) when we set off from Kent and it peaked at 34C (93F) near the tunnel at the Dartford Crossing (under the Thames). As we drove home up through Essex and Suffolk we watched large black clouds to the west edging ever nearer and we hoped we’d be able to get home before the storm got to us. We did. It was still 32C as we unpacked the car, opened all the windows and doors in the house and wandered round the garden for a while looking at the long grass and the drooping plants. While I put the kettle on and made a cup of tea Richard telephoned the Chinese restaurant in Halesworth and ordered a take-away meal. He was just about to set off when the storm broke. It was the most violent one I’ve seen for many years with continuous thunder and bolts of lightening coming down vertically and travelling horizontally across the sky. The rain was very heavy indeed. Elinor and I sat on the stairs together as she gets quite frightened during thunderstorms and Richard went off to collect our evening meal. The storm gradually abated and the sky cleared but still Richard hadn’t come back and I began to worry about him. I found his phone which he had left behind so I couldn’t get in touch to find out where he was. I was considering getting in the car and going to look for him when I was relieved to see him driving up to the house. He had had a hair-raising journey and when he had got to Halesworth he found that the Chinese restaurant had a power-cut and couldn’t give us a meal. They had tried to phone him on his mobile to let him know, but of course he had left it at home. The town’s Thoroughfare was flooded with a foot of water and people were out trying to sweep the water away from the shop doors. Water was coming up through the drains and the town river was in full spate. Richard didn’t lose his head and knew he had a mission to accomplish so went to the other Chinese restaurant at the top of the town which hadn’t lost it’s power and ordered our meal from them instead.
When the rain stopped I went outside to enjoy the fresh, cooler air and took some photographs of the strange clouds.
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The following day I resumed my dutiful-daughter job and took Mum out to do her shopping. We had bought double her usual amount of shopping just before we’d gone away and we had made sure she had enough of her medication to last as well. While we were on our holiday she had been taken to church by my brother on the Sunday and he had cooked lunch for her at his house, so she had plenty to tell me.
When I got home again I got on with the washing and started to tidy the garden. Richard and I called in to see our next-door-neighbours who had been kind enough to water the plants in the greenhouse and to put our rubbish bins out for collection while we were away. We are very fortunate to have such thoughtful and generous neighbours.
The next day I continued with house and garden work.
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis ssp.arvensis) found behind the greenhouse
Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris) found growing on the bank of the big pond.
I think this may be a male Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) though it could be a male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)
A Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) in flower near the big pond
A rather old and tired Ringlet butterfly (Aphantopus hyperantus)
Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) in flower in the area between our garden and the field at the back of the house.
I believe this may be a female Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
Our Variegated Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa variegatum) in flower
Sweet Chestnut flowers
I walked down the lane with Elinor to post birthday cards to my niece Natalie (my brother’s daughter) who had her 31st birthday on the 23rd of July and cards to Alice my elder daughter who had her 31st birthday on the 24th of July. Natalie is exactly 23 hours older than Alice.
This is a teneral, or newly emerged dragonfly as you can see by the pale colouring and very shiny wings. I don’t know which dragonfly it is, unfortunately. It is perched on a Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) growing in the ditch at the side of the lane.
The new pond at the side of the lane which was dug during the winter.
Richard spoke to the man who lives on the opposite side of the lane to the pond and who was responsible for digging it. Apparently, many years ago there was a pond there which was wide enough and deep enough to enable the horses to be led to drink while still attached to their carts. It was filled in when horses were no longer needed on the farm but it has now been re-instated and I am very pleased. The pond is already full of interesting plants and insects which have found their way there on their own.
Our lane. I am standing next to the pond (on my left) and looking back in the direction from which we had come.
Looking over the hedge into the garden of Church Farm I noticed this piece of wall covered in ivy. I wonder if it is part of the old church of St Nicholas demolished many hundreds of years ago.
Lots of unripe Lords and Ladies berries (Arum maculatum)
A field full of Field or Broad Beans.
Another pond at the side of the lane. This one has become rather overgrown. It has fish in it and I once saw a couple sitting at the side of the road with rods trying to catch fish.
View across the fields towards All Saints church which can just be seen to the right of centre on the horizon. It is slightly obscured by a thistle flower!
Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Wild flowers at the side of the lane.
Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria)
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)
Meadowsweet has a beautiful almond-blossom-like fragrance.
A poor photo of a male Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus)
These were all the things I saw at the side of the lane on a short 20 minute walk to post cards.
Here now is my musical choice – the Petite Symphonie in B flat for nine wind instruments by Charles Gounod, composed in 1888. It lasts about 20 minutes and is of four movements. I love the lyricism of French 19th century music and I like this recording of the piece very much. It is a piece of music I used to play and it brings back such good memories to me when I hear it.
We have had a very busy few weeks here with very little time for relaxation. We are all rather tired and stressed and could do with a holiday (or a few weeks at home with nothing to do!), though there is little chance of that just yet.
All the planned work in this first phase of house renovation has been done and we are very pleased with the results. The new windows, doors and garage doors are looking good and the house and garage are feeling much warmer. We still have a little sorting out to do in the garage and a few more trips to the tip and charity shops with the things we no longer need. There is a little room at the back of the garage which had a toilet and wash-hand basin in it which we never used. We had the plumbing removed shortly after Christmas and Richard painted the room last week. He has bought some shelves for it and we hope it will be a good storage room for the bird-seed and fruit and vegetables. It has a window which we hope to brick up and put in a vent in its place. For now we will put a screen against the window to prevent the light getting in.
Potatoes chitting on the garage window-sill. Note the new window!
We worked very hard to get the house ready for the work and it was worth the trouble we took. Most of the time there was just one window fitter – a very pleasant, hard-working man who was so proficient and tidy it was a pleasure to have him here. He let us know which rooms he would be working on during the following day so we prepared by moving furniture and covering everything we could with dust sheets. While he worked on one room we got the next ready and so we progressed round the house. He was here for five days and on his last day with us he was joined by a colleague and together they replaced the Velux window in Elinor’s room. It was unfortunate that the weather wasn’t very nice that day with snow, sleet, hail and rain showers and it took some time for Elinor’s room to warm up again. We supplied the men with plenty of hot tea to help them keep warm!
I washed, dried and ironed lots of pairs of curtains and also took the opportunity to launder other furnishings too. I feel I made a good start to my spring cleaning!
Elinor took her two mock maths GCSE exams the same week that we had most of the window work done. (She is re-taking her maths because the grade she got last year wasn’t good enough). She also handed in her art project work that she had been working on since Christmas. She got a pass mark for the art (there are only two marks she could have got – a pass or a referral) and she got a ‘C’ for her maths which has pleased us all. If she gets a ‘C’ grade when she takes her exams for real in the summer it will mean she has the minimum grade all colleges and employers demand. She won’t ever have to go to a Maths class again or take any more maths exams. (A sigh of relief from Elinor!)
View from Crockham Hill churchyard.
I now feel I must say how much I appreciated all your kindnesses when I spoke of the death of my aunt – I was most touched; thank-you. The funeral went very well and was a very satisfying celebration of her life. It was good to see my brother, sister and all my cousins and their families and to re-visit Kent and Crockham Hill, the village where my Aunt Marie and Uncle Fred lived for so many years. Aunt Marie had moved away into sheltered accomodation after Uncle Fred died.
Aunt Marie and Uncle Fred
It was sleeting and snowing as I set off for my brother’s house that morning and that continued until my brother had driven us to the Suffolk/Essex border when the clouds began to break up. When we got to Westerham in Kent where we stopped for coffee, the sun had come out. My cousin had arranged a lovely buffet meal for us all after the funeral in The Royal Oak, Uncle Fred’s local pub.
The Fens in Cambridgeshire seen from the window of the train I took to Sheffield.
The Fens seen from a train window
The Fens seen from a train window
The Fens seen from a train window
The Fens seen from a train window
I travelled to Sheffield by train so that I could see Alice in her production of Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’. The play was excellently performed by all the cast and I enjoyed it very much. I stayed at Alice’s house overnight and met one of her housemates and also Alice’s cat, Mona. Alice and I breakfasted in the city next morning before I caught my train back home.
The Mosque in Peterborough seen from the train
Norwich Railway Station
These life-size figures stand outside the station and are rather a disparate group. Admiral Lord Nelson on the left; born in Norfolk and was a great Naval commander during the Napoleonic Wars and was killed during the Battle of Trafalgar – Edith Cavell; born in Norfolk and was executed during WW1 for helping allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium – Stephen Fry; born in London though grew up in Norfolk and is an actor, writer, presenter, activist and ‘National Treasure’.
I saw quite a lot of my mother during the middle of February as she had a number of appointments to keep ( two hospital appointments in Norwich and two with her local doctor) and a fair amount of shopping to do. Elinor and I had a meeting at her college to discuss her support needs for her next academic year and to deal with any support problems she has this year. I had been looking forward to Elinor’s half-term holiday but as the window replacement carried on into that week and as we had other duties to perform it wasn’t as restful as I’d hoped. Elinor had a hair appointment on the Thursday and we had planned to go with her and have lunch out in the city. Unfortunately, I woke with a migraine and had to spend most of the day in bed. Richard took Elinor to Norwich and they had lunch in a café. Richard brought me back a lovely couple of presents.
My presents!
I love the design on the tote bag! It is by the artist Amelia Bowman and is a view across the roofs of the market towards the castle. The book is also just what I need for my visits to the churches in the city.
We have managed two short walks; one at the RSPB reserve at Minsmere and the other in Tyrrels Wood which lies to the north of Diss and Harleston in Norfolk. Neither of the walks were particularly interesting but we were out in the fresh (very fresh and cold!) air and were taking some exercise.
Minsmere trees
Minsmere trees
Minsmere trees
Minsmere trees
Richard at Minsmere
Minsmere reedbeds
A slideshow of some small but quite interesting things!
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Our walk in Tyrrels Wood was less pleasant as it was so very muddy and we were disappointed by the state it was in. There was a quantity of litter in the wood, especially near the entrance and it was obvious that the wood is used by dog-walkers. We had to watch where we walked! In this country it is illegal to allow one’s dog to foul a public area and not clean up after it. I am surprised that a large organisation like the Woodland Trust is happy to leave the wood in this condition.
The spotted leaves of Lords and Ladies/Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arum maculatum) next to Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis)
Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) also with Dog’s Mercury
Tyrrels Wood
An ancient coppice stool. This group of trees was once one tree but through repeated coppicing (cutting back the tree to near ground level to let new shoots re-grow) it has become a group of trees with a shared root system.
The bark patterns on this tree are interesting.
And now for my music selection! A little trip down memory lane to the summer of 1978 when I was nearly 20 years old and fancy-free.
Moments from a Norfolk Country Cottage. The furred & feathered & the worn and weathered. A Druid Herbalist with a Passion for Cats, Vintage, Dogs, Interiors, Nature, Hens, Organic Veggie Food, Plants & Trees & a Kinship with The Earth.
