Reversal

For nearly 60 years the beginning of September always meant for me the going back to school. Now I love it because I don't have to go back to school ever again.

I don't have to spend every evening working on Smart Board programmes for my Maths Lessons, ransacking the house for that bit of material I knew would be useful one day if I could remember where I had put it or being so tired I couldn't even remember where I'd put the car .

I leave it all to the next generations. Today youngest grandchild started school.

I have all  worked hard during the Summer. I have played Yo! Ho! Ho! and walked the plank ,  found Miniclip  and Moshi Monsters and policed the Pc. I had a hairy moment last week when R managed to rotate the online display on the laptop screen by 90 degrees. It happens all the time apparently when the arrow keys are mis-hit  during juvenile gaming . I had to move R upstairs and allow him on the Mac. I had banked on 30 minutes of time to sew his PE bag.

Colin and I had a great trip on the train with both boys to Hull last week, that City on the East Coast that is my birthplace. 

Pedestrianised streets are a godsend for carers of wild small boys. The updated Streetlife Museum , an hour of tearing around and pressing all the buttons and climbing on everything that did not bear a warning notice was much enjoyed. 

I don't think Philip Larkin would have liked the way HCC allowed the statue of him in  Paragon Station to be put up. John Betjeman at St Pancras he is not. *

We all did like the free  Table Tennis tables in the Nelson Mandela  Gardens. That gave C and I  30 minutes of peace and quiet to eat our packed lunch.

My Grandfathers Tram

The boys were not really impressed with the Tram Model built under their great -great grandfathers supervision. It didn't do anything, and they couldn't open anything or climb on anything.

The Hockney's Bigger Trees near Warter just didnt work in Ferens Art Gallery. It was far to big for the space. It would have looked Good in the City Hall. I'm glad I went to see it in the RA in 2009. (looking forward to to the exhibition in the RA starting on 21st January). His Yorkshire landscapes are all painted  near here, and on my drive to Beverley  across the Wolds I see all his trees and fields and hedges.

Back to the Quiet Life then. Schools Back!

* Colin says when he was at Liverpool Station yesterday there were statues of Ken Dodd and  a middle aged woman with a hat_just  Googled it -Bessie Braddock.

#HULL CITY OF CULTURE 17 of course it will be!

Moving House

Today I said Goodbye to my Dolls House. It has all moved.

The holiday I never had

Looking on uTube to find the video of King Creosote , Jon Hopkins,  'Bubble'  should have been the work of a moment. I thought it would be a great post for Bank Holiday Monday . My forays into uTube invariably take hours as I browse and enjoy the  offerings. 

Today I found not only Bubble, but a random Holiday Movie  which I post here. I have a house full of younger people staying. I am enjoying being chief cook and  using  Dishwasher. Yesterday the Spinach and Rice Pie with homemade tomato sauce  went down really well. Today I am about to put the Beef in the oven for a Sunday Roast. For a treat this morning I listened to The Archers Omnibus and then Private Passions. We do not do the full on Sunday entertaining every week now. Usually I am at 10am Service with C, and we come home and read the papers, or garden, watch a DVD   and the Antiques Road Show and speak on the phone to the Elderlies. 

I have been remembering how it was. Oh dear! I am reminiscing. I have never done housework or shopping on Sundays, except when necessary. For years  and years I served Sunday lunch to The world , their wives, our old aunts and my children and husband. It takes me so long now. I wake up in the middle of the night and think irrationally I'll do the vegetables, make the Yorkshire Pudding Mix. Iv'e wised up since retiring. Sunday lunch may be Mince and Yorkshire Pudding  or a Casserole in the Slow Cooker. I dont have to make a pudding now, I can buy one. 

So Today I have been thinking . Not more so when I found this video of a couple on Holiday in the Highlands.  My family comes as my Elder and McKinnon Cousins who follow this blog , Nancy, Miguel and Mary, will know, from the Isle of Skye. I have never been there. I have never even been further than Iona.
I was a walker once, in my YHA days before marriage to  C who  loves City Breaks , no Cows In fields, and thinks the Yorkshire Wolds are the Middle of nowhere. (This is not a grumble on my part).

So this is video is my fantasy Holiday. Thank you -you unknown rough campers. 

Insomnia Blog again

Old and New PC label

This time I have a reason. My mosquito bites from last night are so painful and swollen  that I just cannot get cool enough to sleep. 

I have been getting up on the hour every hour since I went to bed first. Now , I have remembered ,using desperate reason, that a warm milky drink does infact help. So I am downstairs with a mug of milky decaf  instant coffee. I say that rather gloomily, as I only take real coffee usually, and maybe only one a day. I have given up my strong black coffee habit now, after years of caffeine abuse,as I try to keep my BP down. Milky instant is in another realm, one of 1950's coffee pot Camp the coffee brewed or rather assembled ,by my now aged parent. So it is a comfort food almost, and it does seem to get me back to sleep if decaf. I used to love the Camp Coffee bottle, the old one that is, with the sikh Servant holding a tray on which was a bottle of Camp, on which you could see the label of the Camp bottle, with a label  etc etc. I know I have blogged on this before!

I have done some light Insomnia reading. I definitely want to go on a course  offered by the East Riding College in their new prospectus  leading to a Diploma in either Trowel or Wood occupations, or machine Competancy. All the work on the Crown Construction Site next to my home has fired me with enthusiasm for new skills of the building site sort. When I am older and grayer and not full of sleep I want to be pushed to a building site and left there to watch for the odd hour.

If I did not still share a double bed I would watch TV in it at this moment. 

I have just remembered it is already Saturday and my beloved Wallender has given way to my equally enjoyable Montalbano, which I will  watch in bed with subtitles at 9pm. Only 18hours to go.

Mark and Iona Birchall and the Old Geezer

Mary Fuchs, Maisie Holding and Dorothy Thiajaraj and Ray Smith, Mark Wigglesworth; my list could go on. These people all had or have something in COMMON.

Barnabas people

Filey Beach 1937 Where Ray Smith became a Christian

Small girl MargaretViola Holding, my mother, at Criccieth Beach Mission (Hudson Pope)1926

Since Ray Smith came to St Oswalds Filey on Sunday last and told us how he became a Christian in Filey 74 years ago on August 15th -he even remembers the date, I have not been able to get it out of my mind. We think that it must have been marvellous that 200 people attended each CSSM beach Mission Meeting in 1937. My aged parent became a Christian in 1928  at a CSSM beach Mission in Criccieth North Wales after hearing Bryan Green give a talk.

Not everyone has a story (testimony in church speak) of the day they became a Christian, but everyone has a story of their faith Journey and the people they met along the way.

When  my own faith came ALIVE FOR ME after going to church for 20 years, Dorothy Thiajaraj  told me that she and Iona Birchall had been praying for me for 3 years! All I did was say to God 'if there is more of you I WANT IT', and I was filled with the Holy Spirit in a new way on a March 25th (Lady Day and my aged parents birthday1978ish )

My spouse has a similar tale to tell. He walked to the station at Wandsworth Town  every day in his City Gent days . Often Mark Birchall would catch him up  and talk. Colin said he had a job keeping up with Marks fast pace and strides (M was very tall). Mark encouraged Colin to go to the  lunchtime Service at St Helens Bishopsgate. The church was full to busting with solicitors clerks, stockbrokers and Gnomes of Zurich  Threadneedle Street. This became the grounding , the teaching and the sowing of seeds that would bear fruit 20yrs later when Colin amazed me by saying  that he had in fact that day PRAYED THE PRAYER. He had been going to church for 40 yrs  , he would say now that like me HIS faith had come 'alive'.  Mark Birchall died in 2004. I know hundreds of people will tell of his part in their pilgrimages.

Beach Missions and Youth Camps like the one here Filey , Criccieth and my own Sutton on Sea (my Childhood holiday place) still go on. Mark Wigglesworth , one of our Filey Parish church family , is as I write,  at Criccieth  helping to lead a Christian camp . He sent an email from his iphone in his tent -sending us all in Filey some  encouragement. 

I have said often how much I appreciate  the sheer audacity and encouragement to all Christian Bloggers given by the Old Geezer. His story may be read here  as he is one of the  Christian Bloggers that  has a link to his testimony.  He too is a Barnabas, an encourager. I felt so good when he became a follower of this blog. I had been blogging for 3 years without even realising I could have followers.

We all , if we are on a Christian Faith Journey have Barnabas friends.

  Thank God for them.

Therapy

I have had a really busy , busy week or so. I am not complaining, it is a blessing to have Family staying.

Therapy 1-Rudston field

 I have not had time to do the gentle usual things of the day, the crossword, The Archers, Google reader etc. I have not looked at Tweetdeck for a week. I have woken early as usual and remembered people . I have looked at the red dot on my bathroom mirror which reminds me to pray for cyberfriends (and you know who you are) as I put in my contact lenses. I can hear you thinking I'm a bit wacky. My children would agree. I tried to get them interested in the view of my favourite field track  near Rudston yesterday, they were trying very hard to agree that it was beautiful. 

The same with my favourite Potato field, perhaps I am on a nerd spectrum somewhere , as I just love  seeing it change every week. I havent actually been to aged parent via the potato fields and Roman villa site for 3 weeks now . 

Spouse has not been able to watch Neighbours for weeks, and I havent listened to my Bible on CD with breakfast as I usually do. I am up to David cutting off a corner of  Sauls robe as he (S) pees in the cave  a good part. We have managed our EDWJ in the greenhouse, and to pray for the day. Our routine will recommence next week.

Therapy 2 -Rudston Field

 BUT  I am rather weary , and have washed the same mugs up 10 times every day and got through 4litres of milk a day. I have seen BFG the video twice, Snow White, Cinderella, Prince Caspian and Lazytown .The house is full of Bakugan, Moshi Monsters and Sylvanians. 

I have also posted on the Filey Parish blog something intended for this one, and as we have a not to remove policy it will just have to stay there .

Shoo Flower

If you look closely you can see black spots on the cotyledon and  early leaves of the Shoo Flower plant. Thats how I always know what it is , even when only a cm high. My beloved Echium seedlings however have spots on their first but not cotyledon leaves and hairy leaves, very Jacob and Esau.

  I have had a Shoo Flower plant in my various gardens since 1981 when I was given the first one to keep in the greenhouse because it kept white fly at bay , hence its silly name.  The seed capsules (like Cape gooseberries) are very easy to store and filled with hundreds of seeds, like other members of the Potato family. So back-end I just fling the seeds all over the garden and wait for the spring excitement of seeing where they come up.

Whether it does repel white flies I don't really know ,as I always seem to get white fly eventually , especially here in the Frozen North as ventilation of the greenhouse is a delicate business. It might be 29 degrees in Brighton but it will be 21degrees in Filey. When the sun is out and the greenhouse reaches 29 degrees I am probably in Beverley and even forgot to open the door and have to do rescues when I get home.

I love this plant. Mine are all about 4'high now so I only have a few. 

AsideWe have a tiny garden and I have half a dozen 'Only the lonely ' Tobacco Plants, already each is 2'across. I have dozens of Echium pininana x wildpretii  plants all growing inches over night it seems , tall and sturdy . I want to get them through the winter, well at least one of them so that I can brag about it on my Facebook Site. I have 6 different varieties of Echium at the moment, . Only one is  hardy, my E. lusitanicum spp polycaulon. 

Back to my Nicandra , My best Shoo Plant. If I am very careful and manage to dry it properly it will be tall enough and branched enough and interesting enough  and light enough to be the Christmas Tree substitute in the downstairs sitting room . 

Cast of Musical 'Armada' -John Dee in centre

Sometimes  you  learn by coincidence and this happened to me  with the name of Tudor astrologist  John Dee. I am trying to remember whether I was listening to Radio 4 or listening to the TV whilst C watched and I was here on the PC, when John Dee was mentioned and I started listening.  What struck me was that the narrator was saying that Queen Elizabeth 1st never made any decisions without consulting the  occultist. C has always been very keen on anything to do with the Tudors, every film and TV series, book and magazine is devoured.  I must have listened vicariously to Bette Davis, Cate Blanchett, and Glenda Jackson and Helen Mirren scores of times without hearing a word ,from my corner of the sitting room and facing away from the set. But remember HE does not do Wallender or University Challenge . He is therefore very disappointed that His Heroine could not make decisions using her brain , as he has always assumed. She has I am afraid joined the ranks of Indian businessmen  with their fortunetelling before deals, Madame Arcarti and all other send-ups and  his reticence to buy a Rosa diablo, Gloriana  has fallen from his grace. I add here that my own god-daughter has unfriended me on Facebook just because I warned her of doing online Tarot Cards, as any Christian Godmother would do I hope.

Queen Elizabeth  in Armada

We were in York having lunch in the Spurriergate  Centre just as the York Musical Theatre Company were  giving the people that lunch  a sampler of their musical Armada  which is next week 28/29/30th July at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Our daughter in Sussex is a keen  singer and was Mabel in G and S Pirates recently, and we know just how hard a cast will have to work  , not least those making costumes and working behind the scenes and front of house. I hope the production of Armada goes well, the costumes were great and a preview of the sound may be heard on their own website. John Dee plays a part in this musical, so I am off to look him up and see what I can find out about him from the books on Tudors in this house. Usually I get all my facts from Horrible Histories or Sellar and Yeatman. I want to get them straight this time incase we end up talking about him in our homegroup  or  reading Blessings and Curses again. 

August in June

Epilobium angustifolium

Fireweed

Rosebay Willow herb

County Flower of London 2002 

with this view

from this road

Another lovely day at the seaside

Actually we never went down to the Chalet today  as we had lent it to a friend . I did want the weather to be glorious for her with her family and small grand-daughter, as Filey simply comes to life on a gorgeous sunny day.

• young day trippers are all smiling at the promise of a  paddle  in the sea
• aged day trippers are all smiling at the promise of a sit on one of the scores of benches in Crescent Gardens with the panorama 6 miles of golden sand , sea and Flamborough Head to the south and Filey Brigg to the north
• small shopkeepers are all smiling at the ringing of tills
• cafe owners do what they do best, with scones  and pots of tea
• the fish and chip shops positively welcome from afar with the aroma of cod and vinegar
• buckets , spades and windbreaks and camping chairs are wheeled in specially adapted shopping trolleys down to the front by huge family groups
• weekly visitors thank God they don't have to go to Scarborough to the indoor swimming pool
• the locals are glad they did their shopping at eight o clock

Small boys away from parents woke C up at 5am , and all the neighbours up at 6am . I managed to surface at 7.30, not at my best in the morning but mindful  the right time for change of shift. Predictably I let them have 90 minutes of Moshi Monsters. My street cred is very high at the moment since I accidentally discovered this must visit site.

Nature walk!

Filey Bird and Animal Garden opened at 10am and  we were there with the boys as it opened. We have been here lots of times since it opened , and its the perfect place with lively small boys to enjoy feeding goats and pigs, play , and run around , and enjoy seeing the progress their lovely  garden is making. This year Reuben (4) showed us the Secret door to the viewing platform over the pond .The boys wanted to move on , but I could have stopped for ages watching the dragonflies and waterboatmen.

C and I have often said that we love sitting in a rose garden , where the roses are all fragrant. Hunmanby Grange and Burton Agnes are a drive away, Sewerby too, but this little rose garden in Filey was at its peak, and we just stumbled upon it, remembering that we have never visited this park in June before. The small boys tore round the beautiful enclosed garden, and coming out I read the sign about not letting children run around, too late then . So we went to hurl round the designated tear round space. This unsophisticated but engrossing play area kept the boys occupied for ages, and only C and I needing a coffee , (remember C had been up since 5am) drove us to move on.  The sandpit , kitted out for toddlers was a bit hit. I couldn't believe it. Our not toddlers , who spend hours a week , every week on the real beach loving the sieves and hoppers for dry sand.

Play area

I would like to say that the boys were really interested in the pigs and sheep, turkeys, Llamas and exotic birds, but today they weren't. As soon as all the bird food had gone  and we remembered to clean their hands the tearing around became the most of fun. Bribery came into the mix now , as icecreams were mentioned casually.This kept us going until after 12 and even the little cafe patio next to the turkeys intrigued the boys, so interested were they in the way the water flowed through the 3 tank pond system, cables and  all next to the tables.

The vernacular Curate asked in one of his posts last week What is a blog? I realised that when I look through posts I wrote years ago, they recalls happy days, spent with family ,and  friends, times spent in trains and museums, and thoughts on my many drives to visit Aged Parent across the Wolds in Beverley. For me the Weblog diary part of blogging is just for me to enjoy over and over again. I know my family sometimes like to read about themselves, AP loves to receive print outs about herself! 

Yesterday was just a perfect day spent at the seaside,  without ever going to the beach, so it could have been any where, but it wasnt. The sound of seagulls, the lovely still but clean air, the light quality, the shops full of day trippers was just something that was experienced from the home of a fileygardener.

Postscript. I have wanted to use this photo from  Yahoo for ages. Yesterday I was in the queue at Mills behind a  lady Filey visitor whose tattoo covered the whole of her back , as bare as it could be for the sake of decency. It was such a beautiful  work of art that I would have loved to take a photo of her but didn't dare ask. 

Grandma! Grandma! Pop out of bed

I thought that I was never really good with small children, and even now ,when I have my own collection, I mainly respond to the words .....putor Grandma?

  I was once  asked if I would take a class of twelve 5 year olds for the Summer term as they begun their School Life. I was trained to teach Junior/Secondary  age children and have always enjoyed being with the 9-13yr range. I took the job at St Martins however, knowing that it was only for 1 term,  and I knew the school well , sitting on Chalk Grassland on the North Downs. BUT it was one of the happiest times I ever had .The weather was beautiful, the school had lovely grounds, the head gave me Carte Blanche with the curriculum. And I had Ellie , a wonderful LSA to keep me on the straight and narrow. 

We spend many afternoons wandering around the nearby allotments learning about seeds and vegetables, walking the Old Coach road looking at 6 Spot Burnet moths, and sitting under trees on the field reading stories, Danny Fox by David Thomson was our favourite.

So 20 years later I just can't pass any Greater Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) in the hedgerow without remembering that group of boys and girls. How many of them ,as parents of small children, are now popping the blooms from their stems and saying as we used to 

'Grandma , Grandma , Pop out of bed!'

Chips and Crisps

If like farmers trading futures on the price of wheat, farmers also sell ahead at a fixed price their Potatoes then it makes sense if they take note of trends in weather patterns. I don't have the right lingo here or probably  not even the right grasp of the situation. My knowledge is gleaned exclusively from my daily newspaper and BBC Countryfile. 

I do know that what I see on my weekly trips across the Wolds tells a story. For those of you who live in USA and other far flung places I will just explain about the East Riding of Yorkshire. 

• between Filey and Beverley the topsoil is on Chalk
• At Kilham the topsoil  drains very well indeed
• the Cotswolds always reminded me of the Yorkshire Wolds-same type of soil and flora
• the Romans built villas like the one at Rudston in the E Riding
• east of the Chalk Wold land the soil is CLAY,CLAY CLAY to the coast

2 clicks makes this much bigger

This Google map was made when the Oil Seed Rape was in flower, this year that was about 3weeks ago. Last week I took pics of the poppies now in the Rape seed fields at Rudston.  Barley for the brewing industry is grown too, wheat  and some flax and field beans, but mostly POTATOES.

Kilham Potato field

My parents grew all the potatoes we could eat , only occasionally in the winter was I sent to the village to buy half a stone . Our soil was clay in Sutton in Holderness, but a ton of manure was delivered every spring from the nearby farm to spread .

Bartindale near  Rudston

So here we are -June 2011. I have not seen farmers irrigating so early around here for all the time we have lived in Filey.  I can hear my mothers words ringing in my ear-

'get a sack now the potatoes are going to be dear! '

My road home

As the Bigger trees near Warter is being prepared to regale Ferens Art Gallery next week  and the wow the Hullesian Hockney fans I realise I have already been wowed many times . I have made trips to the Royal Academy, to the Annely Juda and to Somerset House just to see David Hockneys pictures, watercolours, oils and computer generated pics, of my part of East Yorkshire. When I was Bridteacher, children would spot him painting  up Woldgate and come excitedly to school and tell us. Since those times, and I have blogged about him many times ,he has been responsible for just opening my eyes to  see what I never appreciated before.

Today my road home through the Hockney lanes took me past so many worthy wonders that it took me an hour longer than usual to get home from taking aged parent to HC at Beverley Minster. I had to double back several times, and a one point passed the same cyclist 3 times.

Later

Ive been watching the next phase of the Demolition next door, and talking to Malcolm again about Old Filey so this blog post has been waiting for hours to get finished. I am covered in brick dust, and need to get clean for my highlight of the week,  PCC meeting. So its only Pictures now ..........

Poppies in the Rape Field nr Rudston

Honeysuckle in the Hedgerow nr Kilham

Every Gorse bush from Rudston to Burton Fleming was killed by  frost

Bladder Campion

Hogweed-prettier than its name

Potholes temp fix

Still a Nissen Hut left in Rudston 

ON the way home we stopped to look at the sea

Cliffs towards Bempton and Flamborough Head

Silent Sunday

H/TEmma  but couldn't make it Silent

Not the safe option

A few weeks ago I took a bold step for me and wrote out my testimony of Faith and sent it to a complete stranger. It was a response to the blog of a young Christian man who was  in a place of doubt. 

I dont usually use my personal blog as a place to proselytise, either.

Sometimes I think that I am going to stop reading blog posts by high profile  Christians, as I cannot see why some of them have so much time to write so many posts and never have anything to say about what God is saying to them, or what they have read in their Bibles, or prayers that have been answered or any encouragement for those who find faith a struggle. I know this sounds like another of my critical rants. I know that I am generalising wildly. There are as many Christian Bloggers as there are shades of gray. BUT am I alone in wishing I had more hours in the day to learn about the Bible, to be quiet before God.  I am longing to tell people how  surrendering to God is the transforming step towards Life the Universe and everything  .  Actually I do God the Father  a disservice here, as I am talking about Jesus, and the Power of the Holy Spirit. I surrender to an Almighty God , because of Jesus and through the prodding of the Holy Spirit. I am gob smacked  that it is so simple and yet blog after blog after blog, talk about things that are really politics and power and get up the rankings .Evangelism is not my gifting. Writing out my testimony has cost me Big Time. For the last few weeks I have been depressed, stressed, almost in that dark night of the soul place that I recognize from years ago when I was newly baptised with the Holy Spirit, and my faith went from my head to my heart. Until NOW THAT IS. I have recognised that a defeated (at the cross) foe is having a go at me , and I have told him to go in the name of Jesus. I am OK  but on my guard, or rather, got my armour on and standing firm.

Great things are happening in our Parish of the quiet geriatric sort. Our vicar has started preaching with Christ's Power. We now have a PCC that prays,  Christian Churchwardens , an Archdeacon who can preach and Teach well  AND know how many light bulbs it takes to illuminate a dull Church. Prayer is beginning to take off-I see people praying for each other after services in pairs in transepts. 'Bums on seats' is beginning to be less important than the softening of hard hearts, and it will only take a spiritual  push and the word tithe might just have some meaning and the struggle for the Parish Quota achieved. And no we are not a Charismatic type church, we are not Happy Clappy, we still do candles and Morning Prayer on Wednesdays. We are beginning to talk about Jesus whilst doing the Flowers, and praying for ourselves to be healed in stead of not presuming to bother God. I guess Screwtape and His friends are not mightily pleased. 

Next Monday we go back to Ordinary Time. We have one more lectionary day to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and blow once again through the Church that is supposed to be getting ready to be a bride. Bring it on .

I am searching for some Blogs to encourage  Christians to grow. I am searching for those that are not full of Theology and difficult words. I am searching for some honest testimony of what God has done through Jesus, in the lives of ordinary bloggers. Let me know if you find some gems that are not already my treasures. More and more people are starting  to network  here. I am about to teach Internet Skills to silver surfers-I want to pass on something to them that will change their lives for ever.

Praise our God who lives in Heaven

I Shall be playing my favourite Bach Cantata all Day. I haven't got a record player  so will be listening to the Cantata no 11 for Ascension Day    in a version Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen  in German taped from the Radio about 20 yrs ago. John Elliot Gardener has not done my one in his Pilgrimage series through the Cantatas yet. 

C and I are off to take aged Parent to Beverley Minster for HC. We shall listen all the way.  I'm not repeating what I think about on this my favourite RED LETTER Day .