HAPPY 10th BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY TO ME

Hope and Ruin

 Hope and ruin ' (Brighton)is a great name for a Pub , but was formerly called The Hope  which seems an odd name for a Pub anyway , unless it was once a Hope and Anchor. This is London by the sea  of course and this venue is open until 2am ever day and serves vegan food. It might do well in Filey as long as it served chips .

In Putney I liked the name of the  latest hoping to do well Cocktail bar. Its also open until the small hours  at least at weekends ,  with music , but no food, so hungry punters will have go to Pretos first .

I had just completed a week of Guided Prayer with a mentor, leading me  to think of Lectio divina, before coming away to London and Brighton. The contrast between the week of quiet and contemplation and the week of noise and contemplation  was not as stark as it could have been . Years of living in London did teach me to find soul food in the bustle. I can sit on a bus or tube and enjoy every minute as long as I have a seat , so fascinating to hear all the languages spoken , and the tourists  wondering where to get off, and the nannies with buggies all trying to fit in , but this only works for me if I find a green space , with  few people to recharge.

This year , though I lived 2 miles away and didn't know it, we found Fulham Palace and  gardens . Colin grew up 2 miles from Putney Bridge and never knew the place either.

Fulham Palace garden

I'm writing this watching the Chelsea Flower Show on BBC.
There's no way I could cope with the crowds there any more than I can cope with the daytrippers in Filey when the suns out, taking up all the pavements with so many dogs . People are the lifeblood of cities and towns however, and the  economy depends on them.
The Countryside doesn't manage itself, no more do the urban Green spaces like Fulham Palace gardens, but  both need to be a huge part of my SOUL FOOD, keeping me topped up with HOPE and away from RUIN.



A few quirky pics to complete my travelogue.

 Smart car covered in what looked like grass passes our bus stop at the Green Man Pub Putney .

 Green wall on this pub in Brighton , one day I WILL have one on my allotment shed roof!

If only!!

The Lords Prayer is still in the family.


















 The cushion department in Peter Jones never fails to please.

Lots to be thankful for

Whats App for Birders

I was going to grouse about the patronising ticket collector here on Hull Trains but wont .*

I am thankful because

• I instructed eldest child last night on the art of cutting Asparagus. She will have to take the spears this week so that more will come. I am actually excited at the thickness of the stems and the fact that I have kept the ridge weed free and watered , even though we have had no rain to speak of for 4 weeks. 
• There is still standing water in the fields between Filey and Beverley , and in some places these near  scrapes are now temporary home to many vagrant birds,I saw an Avocet from the train window, what a treat! 
• The latest FBOG/Grapevine  initiative  is great . I  receive sightings  of bird traffic through Filey on Whats App. You will be interested that I can report 4 Buzzards through East Lea an hour ago, and a Bluethroat last week .(I have always wanted to see a Bluethroat)
• I like the new clock in Paragon Station 
• Last week , a very busy one with the daily trips to irrigate my parched plot, I did an ecumenical  course in Filey at the Convent . Every day I saw a Spiritual Director who helped me to sort my Prayer Life out . It was the perfect run up to Pentecost. It sat well alongside the Archbishops' initiative Thy Kingdom Come .  I feel and know that it did me good!
• I have started to wear my sandals 
• LBNL the fields are looking so organized and full of potential. Spouse has just told me to look out of the window at a particularly attractive field of Potatoes, red soil of the fens , miles of farmland to each horizon . He knows me so well. 

*

Oh !I just have !

 He needs to remember that seniors may have their tickets and rail cards all ready on the table for him in the very same way as juniors could. We are not brain dead, or slow or thoughtless, but accommodating and forward thinking .

Spiralizers and sycophants

I want the sycophants of Filey to like my neat spirals of butternut squash and carrot and courgettes as this family tries to enter the world of PC eating.

Don't believe that at all ! 

Ive bought one and I've tried it . Yes, it is very easy to use, every teacher , parent and child can use one because its just a giant pencil sharpener for softer things than wood and graphite, with a lethal Japanese blade and instructions to take care. Thankfully the one I bought cost less than £10 and might just come in useful for summer salads. Butternut squash masquerading as Pasta , I think not !

How easy it is for us all to jump on  bandwagons . I saw Mary Berry using a spiralizer  on TV so thought if she , sensible family  woman found it useful , so would I . She probably received a free one if she used in on TV, and anyway she is always cooking up feasts for her large family and acquaintances and seems to have plenty of housekeeping money and good health  considering how much butter, sugar and best steak and fish she uses. In contrast , I am cooking for one spouse every day , friends some days , and a family at occasional weekends . I have to avoid sugar, fat , limit purines (all meats),  bread and nuts , and all processed food all the time . Those are the base lines. It would take a team of Mary Berrys to cook up delicious meals every day , on a budget, with my parameters set by Filey Surgery .

Yesterday we had a curries  of Dahl and Hard boiled eggs , (Chicken type) Quorn Madras  and rice with plenty of Pataks Brinjal pickle for me. Spinach and rice  pie has become a staple. I am wonderful at transforming a tin of Red Beans into a chilli, and making thick soups to fill us up .Ive lost count of the times I've boiled up stalks and parings , odd bits from the allotment and made vegetable stock . Even then I need ginger or curry leaves to make a variation as a base for soups. I cant imagine life without tomato puree and onions .Oh! for Fish and Chips, olive oil, and pizza. Thank God I'm not having to cope with cooking for someone with IBS as well as my already narrow ingredient list. Thankfully we live in the 1st world,where we lack no good thing. 

Its just that I stupidly thought buying a spiralizer would widen up our choices .