Death and resurrection.........

There is a dead squashed frog outside our gate in the road. I think it must be one of ours. Even after we had to remove the pond  as small children became regular visitors here, we have still kept  water in a small sunken container. We always have tadpoles even in the smallest container. As I garden  and dig, cut and prune and  I know at least 3 of the frogs by markings. There might be more frogs, much smaller ,lurking in out of the way places. 

I was actually surprised at how sad I was to see the dead frog, as I'm sure Its one of ours. There are you see no ponds left in the middle of old town Filey. When Mitford Court was built in 2004  the last pond within 100 yards of our house was destroyed  to make way for the new build . Everyone around us has a small back yard. We and Rose Cottage(no Pond)  have the only gardens around. I am hoping that some of the gardens in Queen street  around the corner have got ponds. 

We need you see to have an exchange of genes in the Frog population. I wonder how far frogs actually will go to spawn? The Country Park a mile away has hundred of frogs in the pond near the marker to the Wolds Way. The Filey Dams will have thousands.I just need a few here. They eat the slugs and bugs and are a gardeners friend.  

I am sure the dead frog is ours. I have watched enough CSI to know . It was prone and past, facing from our gate out . I know it was on the lookout for  mates. We have spent enough time talking to small children and answering the question what are those frogs doing to know that the ritual goes on for  often days.  Yes it was on it way out , and hadn't done anything in our garden or we would have seen. 

I have just looked in all the regular frog spots, behind slates, under drain covers, in amongst the leaf mould. The container of water by the greenhouse contained a dead frog, killed by the freezing temperatures a week ago. Not a sign , and then remembered the COMPOST HEAP .

More Frogs of Filey -Please come to my garden but look before you cross.

Free Des Res for discerning frogs-tell your friends

Keeping going .Thanks Steve Robinson

I have always liked the appellation Webmistress, and I knew when I gave up teaching for money in 2007 that God was steering me into helping Filey Parish to have an online presence. 

I found it hard to get enough work when I moved back to my native  county in 1992 with three teenagers and a Londoner for a husband. Teaching when there is a shortage of jobs is as hard to break into as any other profession.  I was not prepared to work 30 miles from  Filey in Hull . I needed to get to work on Public Transport when necessary, and knew  my limitations, couldn't do languages, and not able to Word Process.

  I got in by the back door- and never turned Supply teaching down , until after a few years the head of Hilderthorpe Junior School, Steve Robinson,  Bridlington, gave me a Part time contract .  He will never realise what a significant affirmation that was. I  filled the rest of my time up  as wisely as possible.by going to as many Adult Learning Computer Classes as possible run just around the corner here at the Evron Centre by Yorkshire Coast College.

So I started with Text Processing, then Desk Top Publishing  , then Spread Sheets, then Databases and with no computer at home.
This was the start of my adventure.
 Internet skills were then started at Filey Library with the  BBC Webwise CD, and the librarian set me up with my first e Mail Account with Yahoo in March 2000.
 I was given an old Viglen and this faithful friend along with a Monitor the size of a microwave and the gift of a £25 Printer kept me going until my retirement from the  East Riding, when I was able to buy my first laptop, and  afford Broadband.  I  picked up a MiniMac along the way, which I still use, and the printer is still going strong. My little family has grown, a scanner and an iphone and a netbook for trips to London. I have just had a new Hard-drive on the laptop, and an Old IBM  has gone. I am looking forward to being able to afford a Mac Air and an iPad. This reads like a boring list but I am leaving it as all nerds and techies like me will enjoy it.

My part time job in 2001 became full time for the next 5 yrs and only because I was now Computer Literate and able to use my School laptop,  post all my lesson plans to the Head via the Server , use the Computer Suite with all my classes, and joy of joy use an INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARD. I realise that I was ahead of the game. I know that Steve Robinson is about to retire himself soon as he reaches 60, so I am publicly thanking him for giving me a Chance  . All the skills I had to use teaching ICT have not been wasted. I  try to realise that 12 years ago I hardly knew what a tab key was and had no idea how to blog .
 Now  my chief retirement job as a webmistress of the Filey Parish Blog, trained by blogfathers Simon Rudiger and Pete Finch has brought me to my 4th season of  Lent . God and I have plans.


This post was going to be about Hockney and Word from Wormingford.That will have  to wait.
If any of my regular readers would like to contribute a short blog post for Lent on the Filey Parish Blog, please email it to me< margaretsudtone@yahoo.co.uk>-read the post Sexagesima and the Beatles first !

Croydon has some good bits after all

Not daleks but the NLA Tower

A quiet night at the Renaissance St Pancras

Well not actually in it , but across the road in the Youth Hostel. I will have to post the photos later  as I have not yet worked out how to upload the photos from my phone to this netbook. 

Ill talk you through it-we are having Continental breakfast on the ground floor of ST Pancras Youth Hostel. The room is full of the over 6os and only earnest young people with their parents .Outside the window the working world is going to its working world. The traffic has been going all night, but quietly through the double glazing. Our room is ensuite and double. The shower is better than in a Boutique Hotel. Thank God I remembered we needed to bring our own towels. C is thrilled that we found the shaver point hidden in the light fitting.

So our view across the road to the newly restored (starting@£190) St Pancras Hotel is great, the sun shines on every restored brick and remodelled window . But I think , and Sir Gilbert Scott and Sir John Betjeman would agree with me that you cant beat the view of it from our YHA window.
I am working out how to get inside the renaissance Dream and have a look.. Mother used to tell me never to use WCs in  PCs but always ask for the Powder Room in City Centre Hotels, this might work, but more likely is to go and just have a coffee in it init.

London's Macclesfield Street today

and a very Happy New Year to my neighboursat the Gold River

David Hockney at the RA

WE are off to London tomorrow. The excitement is building as the papers today are full of reviews of the David Hockney Exhibition which opens today at the RA. I dont care what any critics have to say. I know we will love it and the pictures. We bought our tickets in November. We have been to all the exhibitions of his Yorkshire Pictures. 

I have blogged about them from my blogging infancy

• The bigger puddle
• My road home

Moving our books

Since we decided to downsize to the small family cottage in Old Filey ,Colin and and I have been sorting our books. We did the first sort in November, and removed all the novels that we knew we could easily get out of Filey Library if we wanted to re-read them. So the first 5 boxes went to charity shops .  Next came the first editions, my Lindsey Davis's, my Donna Leon's and Leo Walmsley's,  we gave those to my Cheshire Sister  as well as all the very old Family books with inscriptions that would only mean something to us. That sorted another couple of boxes. Since Christmas, as the next phase of serious thought began ,we have removed all the books from the cottage, this time about 100 large biographies, and books about London. Years of considered Holiday reading for the discerning guest, left quietly ;also detective novels, Margaret Drabble's hints of Filey novels and light classics that would only take a week to read, HE Bates to Jane Austen, and the quirky books Colin thought visitors might enjoy : Perfume, The Necropolis Railway, The day they kidnapped Queen Victoria, and A history of Madame Tussauds. My offerings were always  less esoteric 'Fossils of the Yorkshire Coast' and Roget's Thesaurus (for restful  Crosswords).

The First charity shop had to turn us away with yesterday's offerings. They simply couldn't cope with any more of our books! Colin didnt really want to push the Sholley (my aged parent left it with us) too far around Filey incase folk thought he had joined the Geriatrica. But the upside of this is that we both realise just how good a Sholley is. I shall use one as soon as I need one , but wear sunglasses. My children already avoid being seen with me in the street as they are embarrassed by my wicker basket on wheels.

Back to the mighty tomes.
Today , we did the second sort of the Kiaora Library. I am simply amazed that I managed to put ' Silver marks of the world' and all four novels of Graham Taylor's novels into a Charity Shop box. More still that daughter no 1 who is moving into our house says she will keep all my books from school on Literacy , Numeracy and all points History, Geography, pond life and Science.
 Just 16 shelves to go now. 3 of Poetry, and 2 of Christianity, 2 Classics,and 5 Plants and Animals, 4 of Pevsners , Maps and  all our Pelicans and Black Penguins. We can't stop now, we feel ruthless, and liberated, most of the time. The sooner Sue Ryder and St Catherine take possession of our offerings the more likely we are to carry on being sensible with the rest.
 Anyone want 12 boxes of my fathers 35mm slides of our garden in Sutton on Hull and our holidays from 1958 until 67 ?
H/T to Simon Lewin at All things considered for this

Kathleen Ferrier Centenary Year started in Scarborough

Proceeds to Cancer Funds

I have been playing my CD's of Kathleen Ferrier for days in anticipation of my evening out. And what a fluke we even heard this concert was on, as daughter no 1 mentioned it casually as her choir, Graham Community Choir was doing stewarding for it . I doubt that any of my children even know who Kathleen Ferrier was. Actually I should say IS, for her legacy of recordings is very much still with us. My  family know that I am waiting for someone to digitally remaster Bachs Cantata 11 for Ascension Day  , the Ferrier One, though they will all recognise her picture as it is on the front sleeve of the record which is on my desk next to my Peter Blake Beatles sleeve.

The concert today marked the first in her Centenary Year, and I think might be a unique one as the recital had exactly the same music as the one in Scarborough 60 years ago tonight. 

My singer husband thinks Anna Stephany has a glorious voice. My daughter thought Simon Lepper is drop dead gorgeous. I think they are both right, but still like RogerVignoles .

I was waiting to hear the 4 Brahms songs, thinking they would be the emotional highlight of the evening,but Imogen, Colin and I all agree that the Vaughan Williams song Silent Noon was the top spot. The Programme is here. I am too tired to type it out.

We are planning to go the the Albert Hall in November to hear another Centenary Year  Concert, of  The Dream of Gerontius . That will be something, Colin has sung it several times, and I have argued about its theology, but am informed that the doctrine of  Purgatory has been abolished by the Roman Catholic Church , all that aside, the music is sublime.


Here is  a recording of Kathleen Ferrier herself singing  Silent Noon.

Thanks for the link! A treat indeed and the whole work ! See Comments

Good place to be

I was crabby and bad tempered yesterday and I'm afraid my family got the brunt of it. Small boys took cover as the verbals escaped, son in law asked if 'I wanted a brew?' daughter bought me some flowers and husband got out the Madeira Cake.  Those of you who sleep badly will understand my mood, as 4 nights of wakefulness combined with the anxiety of being asked to be in charge of Flowers at St Oswalds erupted into a sort of mania. 

I am over it now, as I took myself down to the front to see the expected Floods and High Tide which had been retweeted by everyone with # hashtag fever. 

There was nothing of course, a bit of a swell, a lovely light after showers, a rainbow over the Brigg , and joy followed as son in law brought car down to fetch me, no questions, no angst , just care. The views and harsh wind and fresh air and time alone with God had done their deep ruach through me  .

I have just got back from St Johns , and my weekly get together with my Prayer Partners. Calm again, and ready to proceed, Flowers  no worries, and I had a great nights  sleep  . 

Got any to add..

Wild Flowers of Filey 

Let me know if you have any pictures to add to this (Public )Album

Its a good time for Bittermints..

Bendicks  are definitely the best. The members of the  Homegroup that meets  in our home gave us a huge festive bag of  gourmet Christmas foods, including a box of these mints. 

What a great time we've had. This has been the busiest few weeks I have had for many years, all children , partners and progeny  and assorted aged ones have been coming and going here . I have made Yorkshire Pudding with Turkey gravy, as a separate course , by request , 3 times. I have washed what seemed like every towel and pillowcase I possess twice. No dusting has been done , I am so sensible, and cover every available flat surface with gaudy trash and artificial poinsettas making cleaning impossible until 12th night.

Today was my last day of doing  happy hostess. On Christmas day I made life easy by not doing Turkey but doing 1/2 Chicken breasts with bacon round, but I still managed to forget to put on my best top and appeared at table still with apron and no lipstick . My collection of small children who love Grandma because she lets them go on miniclip do not eat mints . They say they are spiky (spicy). C and I have eaten  the rest of the box. They are such adult mints, delicious and good for ones digestion.  We kept them to last ,as aged parent gave us Thorntons Mint selection (all went Christmas Day) and clever Arty Son gave us Marks and Spencer Marzipan Mint Selection (all went Boxing Day). 

 The hit food this Christmas has been Beetroot (Raw and grated , and covered with horseradish sauce and mayo, thanks to Hairy Bikers I think). Today plain bread and butter , that staple of my 50s childhood is once again tempting the palates of small children who are all stollened out. By 7 oclock everyone had gone home, as a Disney Nothing finished and C and I fell asleep in the sitting room . We  came round to Eastenders, with a remarkably hale and hearty looking Pat dying of cancer , wearing earings and support for her bust under her night gown.  This woke us right up.  BUT it made me think. 

How easy it would be to fall out with those who are our  relatives.  I know 2 people  who have children and do not know whether they are alive or dead, they have not communicated for many years.   Many of us have relatives who are difficult and awkward. (Many of us are difficult and awkward ourselves). This whole season just reminds one of the stress that just coping with relationships may bring. Pat was reconciled with David before she died, but that was just fiction. Eastenders is not real, but its exaggerated reality  won a ratings war.  I don't DO resolutions. I do  DO Thank Gods . 

Here are my recent ones

• Thank God I managed to keep my mouth closed most of the time and did not upset my children
• Thank God I was honest  and did not pretend that I was not tired when I was 
• Thank God that I managed to hear the Archers Omnibus ( I was going to pray for Pat and Tony then I realised they are not real)
• Thank you God that all my children said 'It was our best Christmas Ever!'
• Thank God that I realised that I do have to pray for the gift of FAITH for Sir Terry.  

Love to you all

from this house full .

Insomnia 4

Echiums  Burton Agnes

These Echiums look how I feel, able to see out  and feel the cold but wanting to be in Madeira .

Saatchi  March 2009

Yeo Valley- More Simple Pleasures

Sing a long Lyrics  


Better than a Carry On Film

Simple Pleasures

It was a joy to walk back from Tescos  this evening. I say evening , it was dark before 4 so 5.30 seemed like evening. I'm not a lover of Shopping. I like looking at the shelves groaning with plenty and thinking 'I don't need any of that!' as I pass 20 varieties of ham and 15 different Washing Powders all claiming to do the same thing. Actually OPTION EXCESS as it is known , must seem obscene to those who have spent any time in the 3rd World  where 1 variety of soap is a luxury and just meat occasionally  a real treat.  

I'm not going to go on about   being blessed with Plenty  and Choice, it brings with it other sorts of stress, unknown in the 3rd world.  Neither am I appalled that seeing Magnums at 2 packs for £3 , and then buying 4 packs was a moment of weakness. The weakness will pay dividends when I find a quick and luxurious  dessert for  12  on Boxing Day. What's more they can remain in the freezer and not waste if not wanted until New Years Day. Last year my raspberry (from our own garden)and Sherry Trifle (no Jelly)  was not wanted for several days after Boxing Day, and had to be eaten before the Custard disintegrated.

This post is not about anything related to SHOPPING really. Its about the sheer joy of walking around an almost empty supermarket , with no ghastly musak , where I got just what I wanted for Birthday Dinner tomorrow, and a walk home loving the full moon lighting up the buildings in the night. 

Filey Methodist Church

Home 

Facebook -we all knew it really..

In our Parish there are people who would never have any thing to do with Facebook. Their children have been bullied, and facts misrepresented, and trouble caused as friends of friends of friends of friends post inappropriate lies and libels on the pages of their children.  In my family there are people who have deleted their Facebook accounts . I have been unfriended by my two of my godchildren. (For warning them about Facebook Tarot Cards and Horoscopes ) .Another friend asks on his status 'Do I let my father be my Facebook friend ? A teacher friend is alarmed because her pupils have tagged pictures of her taken at a School Prom.

So I watched with interest the programme on BBC2 last night about the uber uber  and ultra rich Mark Zuckerberg. Consequently I have been giving thought to all I gleaned that was new and implied from this measured insight into the Facebook phenomenon.

Anyone of my generation who has read books on the End Times for 40 years , did Brave New World for O level and has seen Soylent Green may keep an open and/or  suspicious mind about the Social Media anyway. My approach has been one of don't talk about something you know nothing about. 

Unpacking that ;

• I am on Facebook and My Space and Friends Reunited (since its beginning  )and Genes Reunited and have had accounts since they were available
• I have 120 friends on Facebook, I have met all but 2 
• The 2 Facebook friends I have not met share my interest in the growing of ECHIUMS
• I take Privacy Issues very seriously and check and untick boxes frequently making sure as far as possible that only Friends can see most Photos of people, and not Friends of Friends, that I customise all Photos of Family  so that only they can see them. That I dont  play Facebook Games , and that I use as few apps as possible
• I have many acquaintances as' Friends ' who I am happy to keep in touch with

Anyone with a bit of a brain will have realised that the altruism of the Facebook Site has changed. Over the years I have noticed that the adverts pertain to me. How do I know this? Simply because I have seen the pages of Family members and friends, which  contain adverts pertinent to them. In other words, it has always been obvious that  adverts for Beauty Products and Anti -ageing creams are targetted by age to the over 30s, 40, and 50s.  How  would Facebook know this ? Every detail put in Profile dialogue boxes  acts as a database to be accessed and used by those in marketing . Similarly , just by clicking the 'I am a Christian' I am nailing my Philosophy to the mast of the the World Ship and this I realise could be used against /for me if the End Times are nearer than we Hope/Fear.

So , what did I learn watching the rather dull and nerdish (and that is why he is taken so seriously) Mark Zuckerman  being interviewed by the clued up Emily?

Just this -be Careful and make sure YOUNG PEOPLE have lessons in unticking boxes. Who can help them? Well the Silver Surferse still have their uses, so use their expertise ! Isaiah 5:21 

Things to do, places to go..

The Security light outside the back door, below our window ,has been going on and off relentlessly in the gale  and so I have been up for hours. We have never really worked out what triggers it, frogs , rats, branches or lurkers. I am however enjoying watching the dawn and having a catch up. I have already wiped round the kitchen (sort of) and put a load in the washing machine and looked thro all the Tweets to the Parish Twitter, @FileyParish and my own @margaretkiaora.

I have not been on the PC much  since getting my new toy. Since #cnmac I have just about assimilated the stuff I learned. I have therefore put the Parish on Facebook following the advice from famous blogging Bishop. Consequently I spend time looking at Facebook and Twitter on my new Smartphone, which it certainly is, all sync-ed and clever, I keep the Parish Website as up to date as I can, and have really neglected my first love .  The honeymoon with the new toy is over now, as I heard Parish Secretary say of hers -They're quite addictive aren't they?

I am back to being me with words now, the touchpad keyboard is fantastic on my toy, but it is not solid and homely like this one, I am not able to sit and drink tea next to me , putting it up and down on my Echium Mat from the Chelsea Physic Garden , or leave the words and come back to them when I've fed the cat , answered the phone or powdered my nose. This feels right. I can say more . 

So the news is this-daughter is buying our house when  she sells hers , and we are moving to our cottage  round the corner, hopefully by April. Spouse has promised to carry on being a Fileygardener here, as the cottage has only a yard. I am getting rid of EVERYTHING to good homes. 

For the last few weeks I have been making almost daily trips to the great Charity Shops of Filey with all my clutter,and hundreds of novels. All the paperbacks have gone. Not the well loved favourites of course, and out of print Arthur Upfields. Anne Tyler has gone, Carol Shields has gone, Agatha Christie has gone along with Georgette Heyer and PD James. My first Editions are going round the family. Leo Walmsley went first. Donna Leon is about to move from Venice, via Filey  to Sutton on Hull.  My First Day Covers have gone to the Christian Bookshop , who sells them, and my Victorian Doll to the Salvation Army Shop. 

Furniture anybody? Will find placements for all I am sure.  It is so FREEING. So If anyone wants my grandmothers Edwardian  Dressing Table it will be free to a good home in the Spring. I must have somewhere to keep the national collection of Bridget Jones' p's till then .

Cauliflower and the hairy Bikers , and a Murder at Pemberley

Watching TV and listening to the Radio do inform me. I am really grateful to have found out on the Book Programme ,BBC radio 4 , that Phyllis James in her 91st year,has  written in the style  of Jane Austen a Detective novel  and set it as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. It has climbed to No 3 already in the Times H/B best Sellers. I have just finished it. In fact I hope she considers this  a worthwhile genre as I am ready for Death in Lyme Regis, Sir Walters Body in the Library and The Highbury Poisoner. 

So too I have really appreciated the series on BBC TV ,Great British Food Revivals. Do See it on iplayer  if you have missed any of the programmes. Last night The Hairy Biker's recipe for a Curry of Cauliflower and Potato or Saag aloo with roasted gobi curry, had me straight round to Angela's  our local greengrocer for a Cauli (and only 59p for a huge one).I was looking for an excuse to pick some spinach ,(chard actually) . Since C's visit to the Practice Nurse , we are taking her advice very seriously. We try to  do everything  Sister Rose suggests.

 We are trying to eat from smaller plates to reduce our food intake. I am still cooking in my mind for all the children and their friends, old aunties , and frequent visitors. In reality I am cooking for Colin and I , and hordes only on Sundays and school holidays. My curries last for days , I buy several pineapples when 1 will do and usually have a harvest festival  in the fridge. SO Today I divided the ingredients for the curry by 3 , except for the spices, I always double them, now that our palette is getting very accustomed to hot , sour , spicy ,bitter and unusual.
Thank -You BBC.

A sit down with the Crossword

This is the first minute I have really had for a few days. Small boys (and parents)have spent weekend here to access all that Filey has to offer in way of Bonfires and Fireworks.
This morning I have been refuge too for poorly boy ,who couldn't go to school and had to spend an hour or so with what is forbidden fruit at home, but allowed in Kiaora on a ration book basis, Grandmas 'puter'. Miniclip has replaced Moshi Monsters.

Working backwards in my timeline, We had a good weekend . It began with a very successful burn up of all out Tax papers from the last 20 years, all Colins Case Notes from work for the last 20 years, and all same for our son-in-law, but just for 5years. A smouldering incinerator is a fascination for small boys, and although we just couldn't work out how to toast Marshmallows on it, it was great for lighting sparklers, and was still going in the morning.

Burn up no 2 was in the Car Park in  West Road. Bonfire food full, four adults and 2 small boys joined the hundreds of families enjoying our annual Bonfire and Fireworks (to music)  organized by Filey Lions on Saturday Night. Even Colin , a reluctant reveller enjoyed it. Coup de grace was the music of the Finale , The Dance of the Capulets from Prokoviev's Romeo and Juliet.
The Children were soon back here and asleep and Sunday was a great success as all the lunch was eaten without incident.

So today to recover , and although R arrives from Scarborough at 8am , by 11am Colin and I have earned a sit down . R is enjoying Miniclip, and now on Level 4 of something, Colin has hung out the washing , and I make coffee for us and pick up the Crossword. Colin reads a bit from todays Times saying today marks the 25,000 Times Cryptic Crossword.  2 vintage puzzles are online today, from 1946 and 1978 but they are behind a paywall. I cant get the hang of Times Crypic Crosswords , although I do try sometimes, and have spent hours trying to follow the tutorials they published about 10years ago.(Keeping them for times of immobility ). I sat down with Times 2 as usual, its not difficult, and now that I have found a 2B pencil it is a real pleasure.

Quince Japonica (Chaenomeles japonica)

Quince Japonica

Always good value in a small garden is  the Quince Japonica (Chaenomeles japonica), for the bush has very early blossom, a welcome sight in any garden in Spring, but then goes on to be home to sparrows, a thorny barrier to cats, and bearer of green then mellow yellow hard waxy fruits. These make easy preserves; chutney or jam.

This year I have made Quince and Ginger Jam.

I am a terrible messy cook. I never prepare properly and do everything at a whim, so yesterday thought 

"I'll do something with those quinces" whilst Colin was having his  weekly prayer time with his Prayer Trio, and I knew I needed to be out of the way of the sitting room and gainfully occupied.  I washed jam jars rescued from the crate for the Recycling Bins at Rudston, and then remembered I had decided to throw lids away this time  . 

The jam  was a pleasure to make, so easy-put fruit  in the pan , cover with water boil til soft , strain off all the pips, cores, and unknown bits , then 1pint pulp to 1lb Sugar, and as much ginger as you can grate. 

The prayer trio had long  gone, I was still testing for set on a cold saucer until after the BBC 4 radio play about Elvers had finished. Then I accidentally splashed all the jam pot covers with water so they looked wrinkled on the jars. It was silly enough that I had to empty 2 jars of gravy mix into small plastic containers  to get more jars. I think I know which is chicken and which is beef as they are 2 different shades of brown but I don't suppose anyone will notice if Chicken Gravy accompanies sausages, they will just think Its a foretaste of Christmas Dinner heaven.
Call round if you want some jam, and I still have 5 pots of Quince Chutney from last year . No comments about the taste might be awful, it isnt ,any of it, just not made in factory conditions, and might only get a 4 in the window.

Dear Daydreamer

I feel I must introduce myself to you. My name is Samson and I live with the Rowlings in Filey now. I used to live in the south , Brighton and then London. I really think you ought to get another feline companion. I have really improved the quality of life for THEM. They are much more rounded now THEY have me to care for. I reward them well with loving glances occasionally, and purring, and the odd baby sparrow or mouse. 

I am in HER bad books today because I rested on the table for a while. I like to see the coming and goings during half term as everyone is coming and going. 

I do write a letter home to my real owner Ben , most weeks.It is called Samson http://kiaoracat.blogspot.com/

 If you do get a new cat friend  I promise I will be HIS cyberfriend.

with best wishes from Samson Rowling 

MORE than just #cnmac

Make a few days of it we thought. Take up M's offer of using her Putney flat, get cheap deal with First Class +complimentary food on Hull Trains, get Netbook ,do #cnmac, factor in visit to progeny and aged aunt, try out a Sussex Premier Inn and blog it when home.

We did and I am.

Lovely to be back in our favourite part of London: south of the river, and Chelsea , lovely to have Peter Jones ,the Saatchi. Chelsea Physic Garden and the Kings Road  part of our Friday with a bus pass from Putney on the No 14. Oh! too  the 39 past the road where C was brought up , and the road where I coped with 3 under 5s with no Washing Machine. Great to be near Arding and Hobbs and the Junction and recall all these years of  teaching ,off the Northcote road . Its not changed very much , just gentrified and twee'd up . 

Installation at Saatchi !

I remember how  our dear Aunty Ann , who had worked at Morganite Carbon of Battersea from aged 14 to 60 spent her retirement years taking buses from the Junction (Clapham) to the termini of all the bus routes, Peckham Rye to Richmond on the 37 etc, etc. Well ,we were doing the same in a way, planning our sorties from Suburbia to make full use of the privileges of Age. 

Chelsea Physic garden has always been our treasure in Chelsea, especially as Colin can get in on his Friends  ticket when no one else is about, and we can feel it just belongs to us.

Chilli Theatre

Echium Wildpretii

Getting to #Cnmac11 was easy for us . The 14 bus to the  Royal Academy, then the 38 to Rosebery Avenue, Sorted.We knew we were going the right way and just followed all the young men with rucksacks and earnest faces.

It was great to meet our blogfather Simon Rudiger, now in Aylesbury, and put real faces to remembered Avatars. I have blogged about this on the Parish Blog.

# cnmac 11

Note to Daydreamer
I have seen Fr Cloake in the flesh and he looks just like his picture.

The gates of Mordor

For the last month I have been trying to have a clear road for stopping and taking the photo of the Gates of Mordor  which have appeared at Great Kendale.

Not only does my Thursday road to Beverley take me past Howe Farm (barrow)and Refuge farm and Google farm all delighting the imagination with their names, but the road from Rudston to Kilham has the best avenue of Ash Trees on the Wolds, and I do love all things Yggdrasil . More later ,I am off to that highlight of any  Social Calendar , the PCC meeting.

Clues

I have read detective stories all my  novel life. I started  with  Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, and seamlessly into Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer and all points past Arthur Upfield to Henning Mankell and Donna Leon.

Marian my brass cleaning partner at St Os also is an avid reader and has given me a list of authors to try, including Alan Rustage and Mark Billingham and Veronica Healey. I will try them all. I don't like too much blood and gore or sex, so only just cope with Wallender, so Peter Robinson is out for me and Stieg Larsson will never be even tried . Filey Library has a huge section of  Crime novels. 

Ive just finished  The Help by Kathryn Stockett, not a crime novel, but so very good I shan't be able to read anything other than  a bit of light Crime for a few days until I have processed all its themes and implications. My sister says it is soon a film, so am glad to have read it first. Does the Cover picture tell you what the book is about, does it give any clues?

And what about these my faithful reader? Have you known me long enough to know what these are? Where are they going and what part do they play in my exciting life?

Google Farm

On the way to Beverley I have gone down Sands Road to Hunmanby for the last few months. It has taken me 20 years to realise it is easier than going through Royal Oak. I don't have to do a hillstart outside Hunmanby Co-op now, and Sands Road has such interesting verges and flora.Travelling east from the Butlins roundabout I have been intrigued by a new sign to Google Farm. What a  name .I live at Google Farm, Google us at Google farm, Come and see our field of googles, .................

I couldn't stop to take  a picture of the sign, too much traffic at 7.30am . Coming home at 2pm a different matter, not a car for miles, and not a sign of the SIGN either, I had to drive a second time  down Sands Road  after a circular re-run of 4miles to spot the sign when travelling from the East . Hope you like it

I didn't notice

that it had gone Pete! http://fileyparish.blogspot.com/

Putting the bubble wrap back

It has happened. I am sounding like my mother. Where did the Summer go? She always said that in September. I know that nights have drawn in, because I had a burn up in the incinerator as soon as it was dark yesterday, which was just after dinner, which was just after Neighbours.  I had a productive morning getting everything ready for the accountant  , and was able to finally throw away 2008/9 and bring 2009/10 out to thrill HMG s Tax Return . I love fires , and apart from smelling like an Anglo Saxon went to bed knowing my conflagration had robbed the Stig of the Dumps from accessing my old bank statements, Huge dividend notices( My  Fairtrade Acc netted 00.18p) and Pension notices.

Here in Yorkshire we call it Back End in the garden. 

I am trying to make my Sweet Peas last til Christmas as I did in 2007. I take off every flower, and dose regularly with Tomorite. The Runner beans have been good, but the Hurricane winds last week knocked them nearly over. I have had only 1 Tondo Courgette (round). The Chard has been good-my family are getting tired of Spinach and Rice Pie however. 

  I am ready to use Nicandra Physalodes for Christmas Decorations. Last year when it had dried out it looked great in a vase hung about with baubles and Chocs. They are all about 4'high now and about to turn brown. What a find they are. No need ever to even buy a packet of seeds.

C is thrilled as his Yucca is about to flower for the first time. He wants to know if it will die now. I think that's an urban Myth.

So the bubble wrap is about to go back in the greenhouse. The tomatoes were a disaster this year, so have been removed already. The grapes were made into wine in July. The Ipomeas all came out white and none blue. I should have  remembered all the F1 genetic talk I heard at school.

I am  ready to protect my precious Echium plants and try to get some through the winter.I will bring some in to the top of the house where it is light but cold and hope some will survive. The potted rest will go in the Greenhouse and the large E.pininana x wildpretii (about 15 of them)  will have to chance it in the garden.

Echium spp