- feel if I'm alive
- take life prolonging meds
- do Lectio 365
- see if spouse is alive
- make us both a cup of tea
- do ablutions
- collect daily washing ,start washing machine
- GO INTO BACKYARD & LOOK AT AURICULA THEATRE
- peg washing on line
- make porridge for spouse
- prepare breakfast for self
- go to Wydale or Filey Parish on Zoom (weekdays except Tuesdays)
Fileygardener
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Theatre of the not absurd
Thursday, January 06, 2022
Little Gidding, Pete Greig , and Mental Health
My friends all know that I love Poetry.
We had a huge cull of books when we moved back into the cottage 10 years ago , and left a room which was furnished from floor to ceiling with bespoke bookshelves made by the craftsman Malcolm Johnson .Colin loaded up Mother's sholley with books several times a day and walked to the Charity Shops with the load until we were advised they could not receive any more. I kept all my Poetry books, most shelf space now after my Botany books.
Little Gidding is my Adlesdrop place, as I did pass through it unwontedly on the way to Yorkshire from London avoiding motorways. I always knew it had been a religious community of the strict High Anglican sort , but not having ever read the Four Quartets that pleasure was to come. Pete Greig always surprises me with his rhetoric , his writings and his vision,and I value his contribution to the stability of my mental health. He writes on 4th Jan
that
Reading today's headlines, I'm reminded of a line from T.S. Eliot, who died on this day in 1965: ‘Christ is the still point of the turning world' .....
it has become my necessary daily practice simply to sit in silence and stillness each morning for a few minutes,......
But I believe that God’s quiet invitation to each one of us at the start of this year is this: ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ (Psalm 46:10). We know ‘of’ God through the bible but we actually know him through the practice of silence, stillness and solitude. Good doctrine is dead without doxology. This was something I experienced deeply and cumulatively during my three week solitary pilgrimage from Iona to Lindisfarne in October. ..............
It warms my heart that I am not the only person to have heard of and employ 'no dig' and my joy will be complete when Mike and the rest of the Allotment association buy NO Peat compost for the site SHOP.
NEW YEAR PROMISE OF SUNNY DAYS AND FASCINATING SKIES |
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Thursday, September 30, 2021
The stones would shout aloud
- Are we in a hurry?
- Is the sun shining?
- Is there a hazard ahead?
- Is the path narrow or wide enough to pass ?
- Are we on a well known path, road , car park, field or garden?
- Is anyone coming towards us?
- Is anyone wanting to overtake us?
- Do we need to converse?
- Have I got my Hearing aids in ?
- Is that a Cornus or a Viburnum?
- Take a pic of the Monkey Puzzle tree for Alice
- That’s a yellow Crab Apple
- Ken’s done a good job on the Lavendar
- The new Meadow Strip is a good idea, they’ll have to dig out the perennial weeds that have grown so quickly. Best put black membrane down until it’s seeded
- Shall I give them a packet of Yellow Rattle
- Don’t interfere
- Take a pic of those
- Here’s Jasper
- It’s all looking so good
- will have had their lives radically changed as they can no longer afford their rents,
- might have to plough through paperwork and bureaucracy to get Universal Credit
- or a new job
- or come to terms with redundancy,
- or an inability to pay a mortgage.
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Lightening and Thunderbolt
Since my last post in May I have not been enjoying a deckchair in the garden , reading countless books of Detective fiction, baking Frangipane tarts , walking along the shoreline in bare feet or decorating the downstairs bathroom. I've had dozens of ideas of blogs to enthral . My spare time has of course led me to my Allotment plot a mile from my home here, where I can see the sea when I stand on the front step.
For 5 years now I have had Dave's pristine (once) old plot as well as mine. I used to share my plot with Bernard, and I have his as well since he married Queenie in 2017. I am what John Siddle used to say was one who gardened in organized chaos.
I cherish those words. John taught me English at my Grammar school ,Greatfield High school. Hull , in the 1960s. He came back into my life when he retired to Filey . On this day when grandchildren get English results, I don't sit here hoping I would manage my O level English Language again now; I don't need to imagine my old mentor is checking my participles , or my Latin master appreciating my understanding of the archaic language as informing my Botanical nomenclature, as I couldn't care less. Wen i text i say u and c and as long as it is understood it no longer worries me. I can't text quickly like my offspring and their offspring. I can't Word Process quickly either, I use 2 fingers. If I were back at my school I would not have taken Chemistry and PE, I would have sat in the Commercial class as it was called ,and learn to touch type to music as I used to hear them all doing, that is a skill indeed.
My organized CHAOS may be discerned by the no dig gardeners, the new Ruth Stouts, and and present Bob Flowerdews as an Allotment of the future times, even here in the land that time forgot, where Peat Free Compost is not sold in our allotment shop (yet ). Even here we No Dig gardeners need discernment, as the Peat Free Compost in our wonderful Reighton Nurseries is not all it seems either, as the ingredient replacing the peat is from China!
I want to record in 2021 that even if I have to give up my plot I am trying to use Practice which though not completely in the school of Charles Dowding is as good for the planet as I can manage . Here I put my hand up to Rat Bait in sheds, occasional weed killer on the border with the Railway embankment, and use of Cardboard that is not always brown .
Paul Wilson , (Advanced trees and grounds) supplies me with woodchip for my paths, the grandsons are employed to barrow it up to the plot.
Firstly Im thankful for the supply of good , large pieces of cardboard brought to my plot by friends. Many days I arrive at the plot to find treasure outside the shed door as I arrive to the packaging from garden chairs, beds, flat packs and even coffee pods. Thank you all the Helens, Stuarts, Lisas , Michaels for thinking of me,
Networking always pays off when in need of supplies for No Dig. John and his wife in Irton used to sell me all their horse manure. They were the first of the interesting folk one meets only through cultivating the earth .
That is how I met Therese and Stuart one February as we spent a bitterly cold morning helping ourselves to the contents of a winter cow byre . They are not only great suppliers of spare veg and cardboard but helpful and friendly, perfect allotmenteers. It was on that day that I met the young Syrian eye -surgeon refugee, who was waiting for his status to practice in this Country, From him I learned about the pale courgettes beloved of Syrians in their cuisine, which I now grow and pray for Syria as I tend them .
I tried to encourage my beloved to sit in my shed /greenhouse in the winter, cosy and warm next to my hotbeds , which I can get to 80F in January , February and March using straw , manure and urine and reading my book on Hotbeds , he won't, even though I have a sun lounger for him.
The straw for my hot beds now comes from friend Colin up above Hunmanby . He delivers straight to plot for me. I leave all the spare bales outdoor until October to get soaking wet and then it goes beautifully on top of the cardboard, with handfuls of chicken pellet fertiliser, and any donated horse manure. Colin also brings me horse manure from his field, let out to horses. This is fantastic stuff as it is already 3years rotted and growing magic.
John Siddle might see some chaos on the plot , but it is very organised too. I let Borage and plantains seed all over as pollinators . The Borage can grow to 3feet tall in few weeks . I don't remove it, it will seed freely for next year, and is so easy to spot may always be pulled up if necessary. Chives are the first mass bed to attract the bees, after the Woad of April, the Cowslips, Primroses and Violas of March and the Hyacinths and Daffodils of January and February. All summer long a favourite native plant Scarlet Pimpernel creeps and flowers, I rarely weed it out as I do all the Chickweed which goes to Pete for his budgies. I like the Groundsel and Sow thistles, and remove the Flowerdew way by just pulling and leaving to rot down on the soil's surface as mulch, as with the spurges and speedwells. I can always recognize them if I have to remove . The Couch Grass and Horsetails are another thing altogether, removed and incinerated as soon as spotted. This is easy with the Horsetails , as Bernard eradicated most of them , but the Couch Grass is so hard to get out , as every little bit of underground stem if left in the ground will thrive to produce new plants, and as for Bindweed , that gorgeous 'Grandma Grandma Pop out of bed ' plant that has to be removed if possible and its underground stems look like a tube map..
This year has been very hard for me to keep up with removing the pernicious 'weeds ', as I do not have time . They need an army of people who do not carry I am a carer card.
Tagetes minutii did not germinate well this year. It is the companion plant that exudes a toxin which slows the growth of Couch grass, so next years first challenge . It is a wonderful plant , growing up to 5'tall and I like to make windbreaks of it. I'm growing Tansy too amongst the raspberries , same use of companion planting.
I have been nurturing a pot of Ginger or Tumeric all year, but now realise it is Couch grass. Its beautiful though and could do well if was marketed as a conservatory plant and watered well. It would be cheap and easily divided to give away to friends as long as not planted out, then you would be as popular as if you had given them Japanese Knotweed. Would my friend who thought I went to Roedean please ignore this advice. I never should have said to her a we drove past the school on way to Newhaven , 'there my old school' because she believed me for years I later found out . If you are from Hull you will know that Greatfield High school in 1959 to 65 was rough, and girls like me had to get tough to cope with it.
So Ive surrendered my Thunderbolt adapter now that Ive given away my Mac air, but bought a Lightening adapter for my ipad . I shall be showing my beloved his grandson Reubens Blog, this blog and all my photos as soon as I have him as a captive audience in front of the TV set, just as I've trained him on the input from the remote.
Friday, May 21, 2021
Aurora and No DIG
Saturday, February 06, 2021
Deus ex machina
I've been looking everywhere for my copy of 'The Monkey Wrench Gang' by Edward Abbey. It will come into one of seven categories.
- Placed on my Specials book shelf
- Placed on a shelf for novels
- In the loft maybe in a box, or on the floor in a tottering pile, waiting to go on a shelf or go to a Charity shop
- Already given to Grandchildren when they were smaller in the hope that when they are older they will read them
- Already given to Charity shop
- Misplaced ,to be found amongst the Botany section when I'm dead
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Vicarious
I've also been on holiday with Susan Calman on Channel 5. I could watch her all day . She is so clever and funny . Yesterday she too went to Lewis and Harris , so now I've been to see Harris Tweed made , and saved money by not buying any as I would have done on realtime holiday, and then put the material in my sewing box for 40 years like the piece I found with the trade mark ,still waiting to be made into a skirt .
Just incase you are wondering about my fantasy holidays , Yes! I've been all round Middle Earth too with Journeys Of Frodo , The Atlas of Lord of the Rings , and I would quite like Rivendell for a quiet few days .
Monday, August 10, 2020
Waiting for Ikea
I can't remember what day of the week it is , or the month sometimes. When I started this blog in 2006, everyone was at it. I can't bring myself to do podcasts because I don't listen to them myself. I am still a reader .
- My home is full of books waiting to be read for the first time, donated by kind friends when the library was covid closed.
- My home is full of books I have had since 1947: my childhood storybooks, my Milly Molly Mandy , my Children of the New Forest, My What Katy Did , my Snowflake by Paul Gallico, My first Bible AV with Horace Knowles illustrations with love from Grandma.
- My home is full of books I have had since 1960: the teenager years, Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers (now disintegrating)McLintock &Fitter, Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck, Palgraves Golden Treasury,The Observers book of Lichens,The Drunken Forest By Gerald Durrell, a hopeful copy of The Odyssey
- My home is full of books I have had in adulthood, all Jane Austen, all Thomas Hardy , all Arthur Upfield (ALL now OP), and shelves of Local Topography, Florae, Poetry , Bibles , Novels I might read again , biographies & works of interesting(to me) Christians (Brother Lawrence, St John of the Cross, Corrie Ten Boom, Floyd McLung , CS Lewis , David Watson , Pete Greig
Saturday, June 20, 2020
June came quickly
- Sisters 70th birthday in August is the most important
- Daughters birthday in July precedes that but just an ordinary birthday
- Wimbledon ,last week of June and Ist week in July CANCELLED
- Harvest Festival Flower arranging CANCELLED FOR ME ,I’M NOT GOING IN CHURCH THIS YEAR
- Spouse’s birthday 13th September coinciding with the day we pay for our Car Parking space in the local Pub Car Park
Memorable date Longest Day 21st June 2020 R.I P Win
Thursday, May 07, 2020
When is a weed not a weed?
Sowthistle , Filey roadside |
- Poor Mans Weather glass (Scarlet Pimpernel)
- Quaking grass
- Mullein
- Chickweed (for Petes budgies)
- Hop Trefoil
- Horsetail
- Bindweed
- Couch Grass
- and was going to say Sow Thistle , but read to end of post
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
What to do with Spanish onions
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Last outing to Waitrose* |
the handwritten "receipts" of the Misses Hair, circa 1893 which includes the fascinating recipes entitled "What to do with Spanish Onions", and "How to wait at table single handed" which ascertains in its opening sentence that any "intelligent person can be taught the art",
and a couple of the recipe books belonging to my Mother , Margaret Viola Bruce nee Holding .
I recall all she taught me too on buying meat . We have a great Butchers in Filey , whose meat is locally sourced and the producer named .
Mother loved a good butcher, and could talk Beasts kidney , skirt , feathering ,Aitch Bone and undercut to me well into her last months . Beef of course was the flesh of choice , legs of lamb appeared on our Sunday Table occasionally in the Spring , Pork rarely , bacon every day , Black pudding often , and a a real treat would be a chicken , but these always came from our neighbour Mr Baston who was an egg producer. Our Butcher was Mr Hickey , whose van came up to our house a couple of times a week , or we would go to the village for mince or stewing beef.
Mother had a limited range of "dinners"and all included meat or fish .Cauliflower Cheese and Macaroni cheese did feature occasionally as meals.
We had
- a wonderful joint of meat or a fowl on a Sunday
- reheated meat and gravy on Monday (Daddy hated this)
- Minced meat on Tuesday if any joint left
- Braised steak -her favourite for visitors, served with Yorkshire Pudding , as was mince
- Corned beef hash occasionally
- Hash on Ash Wednesday (about 4 oz beef in a huge stew with potatoes and carrots and swede, not thickened, eaten in bowl with Brown or Worcester sauce to make it palatable)
- Fish often , Fish pie, or Smoked Haddock with an egg on top, Fried fish often , lots fish caught by Daddy in season (and when he actually came home with some), which had to be eaten immediately as we had no fridge , Trout or Grayling fried whole .
AS a header on this post is a treasure for me on this day when Mummy would have been 100 years old . Typical Mummy literacy , she had Dyslexia we now realise, as could not spell well, lots of underlinings, her characteristically stylish and bold handwriting and the recipes she wrote in the note section of her wedding present book, her Mothers recipe for Fudge or Tablet as its called in Scotland . I can't make any today girls, as I'm not going to Spar for non essential Condensed milk , but we may all think about it !!
*been thinking about Michael Gove on TV the other day , talking to Jo Public about supermarkets with Waitrose as his example. Mr Gove, most people DO NOT GO TO WAITROSE
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
I will refuse ...
Filey |
- files and downloads on all my devices,
- cocoa powder under the microwave
- sweet papers on the floor
- nothing in the wastebin in their loft bedroom
- the chairs moved around in the office
- BEST OF ALL the beds so carefully made up and aired have been unused and the spare beds slept in , and the carefully folded clean linen for making up slept over. I'm monitoring this now along with ensuring they have washed , and not slept in their clothes
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
RED JULES @redjules
I cant think of a better post for any of you ! I have blogrolled Jules Middletons blog for many years , and Gods timing is NOW
Read the whole thread everyone and retweet @lprince9294 @FileyVicar @mike316316 @akstringer791 @FileyParish @FranciscoProct5 https://t.co/hp9nHizKlm— Margaret Rowling (@margaretkiaora) December 17, 2019
Thursday, November 14, 2019
That Delphic Sibyl and other well muscled models
Cumaean Sybil |
- a deliberate act to ensure that they will remember that the cultural expeditions with Grandma to Kingston upon Hull covered more than the Artwork of the 21st Century
- to show them that an interior of an ancient and historic church may lend itself to an update in space management
- to introduce them to Trinity Market next to the Minster


Guess the LP |
And just when the day couldn't get any better , beloved bought a Cycad in the Station Florist and a huge Opuntia for our grandson who is collecting and tending Cacti .