December 2016

Tags

Advent, Advent Crown, Cromer, Cromer Lifeboat, Cromer pier, fog, frost, mist, Norfolk, Norwich, Norwich Market, Rumburgh Church, Suffolk, sunset, Turnstone, walking, Westleton Heath

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!

Thanks for visiting!

Advent

Tags

Advent, Advent Crown, Advent Sunday, candles, Carol Services, chores

The Advent Crown that I helped assemble with its first candle burning. This photo was taken in our church at Rumburgh on Sunday morning.

Here we are in Advent again.  I enjoy Advent – I like the quiet thoughtful aspect of the season.  One tends to get caught up too easily in the rush and tear of Christmas preparations – the frenzy of shopping for gifts and preparing food.  Advent is all about waiting patiently and being prepared – not for the arrival of friends and relatives or having enough food and drink to last through the holiday (though that has to be considered!) – but for the gift that God gave us, his son Jesus Christ.  We also have to be prepared (as Maurice reminded us on Sunday morning) for the Second Coming; for the Day of Judgement.  Have we been leading good Christian lives?  Have we loved God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds?  Have we loved our neighbours as ourselves?  Or, if we were suddenly asked to account for ourselves, would we be found wanting?  I love the beautiful words of the Collect for Advent Sunday written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century.

‘Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.’

The Advent Crown seen from a different angle.

Elinor and I made our own Advent Crown at home.  I had a look in the garden for greenery to decorate it but could find hardly any.  Our hedges have been cut and there weren’t any branches that hadn’t had all the best bits cut off.  A lot of the ivy has gone from the garden this year as well.  Fortunately, I visited Mum on Friday to deliver some shopping (which included candles for her Advent Crown) and while I was there she invited me to forage for useful evergreen in her garden.

Our Advent Crown

I have to provide two dozen mince pies for a carol service next Sunday evening.  I have collected the ingredients for the shortcrust pastry and the filling and now I will have to find the time to bake them!  This is the post from last year where I described how I make them.

The next few weeks are going to be quite busy and it will be hard to set aside enough time for quiet meditation and prayer.

Elinor breaks up from college at the end of next week and next Tuesday evening Richard and I will be attending a Parent’s Evening where we will meet her tutors.  The pop-up design of Red-Riding-Hood and the Wolf she made at the beginning of term has been put on display in a gallery in Norwich.  We must go to see it!

We have someone coming to see us tomorrow to discuss the replacement of our garage doors and we have the gas man coming to service our gas boiler on Friday.  We believe that we need to replace the boiler quite soon and we will have to ask his advice.  I will have to take my mother Christmas shopping soon – this will need to be carefully planned as she doesn’t have as much energy and strength as she thinks she has!

We have a trip up to Manchester planned for one weekend and I hope to visit my sister in Kent as well.  She is a paramedic and is on stand-by from now until the 28th December and can’t visit us until after Christmas.  There is another carol service on the 20th December and I will no doubt have to provide mince pies for that as well.  Richard and I have tickets for a Carols by Candlelight Concert in Halesworth!  Alice comes for Christmas and will arrive quite late on Christmas Eve and will need collecting from the station.

So what with all that and the usual round of our own chores to do we will be kept quite busy.

Thanks for visiting!

Advent

Tags

Advent, Advent Candle, Advent Crown, Carols and Capers, Medieval church, music and dance

I took this photo a week ago when, for an hour, the thick pall of cloud that had been over us for a week or more receded towards the coast and we saw the sun. I was amazed to see how deep the cloud was.  The cloud returned shortly after I took this picture.

We are now in the second week of Advent and Christmas is looming fast.  I like Advent – at least I like Advent in theory, if not in practice.  I wish time would go a little slower so that I could fit in all the Christmas preparations and still have opportunity for quiet reflection.  i wish to appreciate and enjoy anticipating Christmas.

There used to be a children’s programme on TV when both my girls were younger called ‘Bernard’s Watch’ in which a boy called Bernard had a special watch that could halt time, stopping everyone in their tracks, while Bernard rushed about trying to catch up and put things right.  I want Bernard’s watch!

Unfortunately, this time of year is so full of doctor’s and hospital appointments, check-ups at the optician and dentist, visits to relatives, trying to remember last postal dates and ordering of meat and wreaths, that the really nice bits are side-lined and fitted-in to our schedule almost as an after-thought.

Our Advent Crown with the first candle alight

At home we make an Advent Crown with evergreen and candles, we have an Advent Candle and Advent Calendars.

The Advent candle

While E and I make the Crown and also a table-centre decoration as well, it is traditional for us to play an ancient tape that we have had since my eldest daughter was little.  It is the most horrible of tapes with what my daughters describe as ‘cheesy’ Christmas songs on it.  If R is around he complains very loudly when we put the ‘music’ on but I don’t think Advent Sunday would be half as much fun without it.

My daughter’s table-centre arrangment

The Sunday before last (30th November) was Advent Sunday so the day before that, R and I went to Rumburgh Church to make sure all was tidy and in order and to put the church Advent Crown together.  There are plenty of evergreen trees and plants in the churchyard so I gathered a selection of good looking cuttings and arranged them as best I could around the candle holder.

Rumburgh’s Advent Crown

 

 

While I was wandering about the churchyard looking for greenery I saw this…

An extremely early primrose.

…and this.

A coral fungus. This was very small as you can see by comparing it to the pea-shingle next to it.

I also saw this…

Holly with berries. If you look carefully you’ll see the mildew on the shiny leaves. It has been so damp this autumn!

…..and this

The wooden churchyard gate has turned green too

as has the gate to the path which leads to the churchyard. Our church is not visible from the road.

We have no church services at Rumburgh for the whole of the Advent and Christmas period this year but we do have a couple of carol services, the first of which was last Sunday, 7th December.

We had travelled up to Manchester on Saturday 6th December so that we could visit my in-laws.  R had driven up from Gloucestershire in the West Country where he had been working and E and I had gone on the train from home.  Because of the new franchise there is no longer a direct train route to Manchester from East Anglia.  The quickest and cheapest route was to travel south to London, cross the city from Liverpool Street Station to Euston Station and then take the pendolino train north to Manchester from there.  My poor mother-in-law is still very unwell but has left hospital and is now in a respite care-home for a few weeks.  Since moving to the care home she has caught a chest infection which has added to the problems she has with breathing because of a faulty valve in her heart.  She also fell and broke her thumb so has her hand in a plaster cast.  We stayed with her for about half an hour at most and then left when we saw that she was tiring.  We then drove to a restaurant and met my brother-in-law and his partner, his son and his partner and their two-year-old daughter and had a meal together.  R’s nephew, nephew’s partner and daughter had all had the chesty cough and cold but my brother-in-law was still suffering with it and we have since heard that his partner has become ill with it.  This does not bode well for us!  We returned to our very basic hotel and had a restless night before driving home on Sunday morning.  We set off shortly after 9.00 am and got back home just after 2.00 pm.  We had a short rest before going to the church to get it ready for the carol service.

The interior of our church. R is starting to get it ready for the service.

There are many candles to be lit and the mince pies and mulled wine to set out before the congregation start to arrive.

Here is R lighting the candles on one of the window sills. R is 6′ 3.5″ tall and even by standing on the pew and stretching he can only just reach!

We set out the refreshments on the table at the back of the church and covered them for protection

Floral display round the font

 This service is called Carols and Capers and is organised by our local folk groups and Morris dancers.  (A caper is a skip or jump and is used in Morris dancing).  Unfortunately, this year we didn’t have as many people in the church as in past years, probably because of a number of other events going on in the area.  I usually make my own mince pies to bring to the service but I had been much too busy and so I brought bought ones.

The congregation began to arrive

The second candle was lit on the Crown

The service went very well with a mixture of communal unaccompanied carol singing, dancing, solo singing, recitation and instrumental music.  Three of us from church were asked to do some readings from the Nativity Story and the Rector gave us a Bidding-prayer at the beginning, an amusing talk on ‘Christmas Words’ and sent us home with a Blessing.

Gallimaufry are a dance group who specialise in Medieval and Tudor dances

Gallimaufry

 

Pearl in the Egg are a couple of very talented young women who play period instruments. Here they are playing the music for Gallimaufry to dance to.

Pearl in the Egg then sang and played to us. This is my favourite part of the evening. According to their web-site, Pearl in the Egg (Perle in the Eghe) was the name of a real minstrel, a blind harpist who performed for King Edward I in 1306. He performed along with the Minstrel with the Bells, Matilda Makejoy and Reginald the Liar.

Pearl in the Egg describe themselves as Historical Musicians and they perform in many places including in churches, at fairs and at schools. They give talks and presentations and not only perform Medieval music but also Tudor, Victorian and 1940’s as well. Pearl in the Egg was a term used to describe cataracts in Medieval England.

‘Rumfolk’ then sang to us

And Rumburgh Morris danced for us

A most enjoyable evening rounded of with the mince pies and mulled wine and lots of talk!  Our next carol Service is on Saturday 20th December.