City of Culture &Donkeys on the green..

Donkeys on the green and Dogs in Filey Churchyard , have the same effect on Betsey Trotwood and the writer. 

Some things incense me . I always find people with their unleashed dogs in the Churchyard every early morning when I arrive before 9.30am to attend to the flowers. Carefully worded requests are cheerfully and blatantly ignored by parishioners. 

Barmston Drain Clough Road

Recalling a recent trip to the soon to shine City Of Culture I found myself being narked by things that are so avoidable and solvable .
I'll post  positive pictures first .

• The Joy of Barmy Drain OKA Barmston Drain. Walking to the huge Household Warehouse in Clough Road to meet Sutton sister I walked from Newland , leaving the bus at the tantalising Lidl.  Barmston Drain is still a bit of the country in the City. There were no shopping trollies and bicycles in this bit, and it promised riverside plants , waterlitles and ducks , or seagulls pretending to be ducks. That was on a very gray January morning , and it brightened my mood.

Look whats still selling just Breadcakes in Hessle road

• Breadcakes are known as Baps in Filey, but they'll always be Breadcakes to me. Aunty Alice in the (Sutton)village used to send me to Mackmans on the corner of Church Street and College St , after it was Lassies, to get a couple of breadcakes. She had a neat way of slicing each one across about 3 times and filling (after buttering with the butter warming by the coal fire) with ham in one layer and Philadelphia in the next ,then cutting each breadcake into 4 for our tea. It was her version of the Club sandwich which she had eaten when she lived in New Jersey with Aunty Kathleen Bruce in the winter of 60/61. We were to benefit greatly from her sojourn in the colonies. She introduced many new things in to the Bruce diet, and family culture and we are often reminded of how beneficial it is when someone who has lived only in Hull is able to realise a wider world is out there if only for 6 months .

• Oh the tiles ! Hull is full of Old Pubs ,often in dire need of restoration where the tilework is just Stunning . Forget the Georgian Society , and start thinking how to preserve all the wonderfully decorated buildings of whatever age 
•  Firstly The Windmill Pub Witham Description: Windmill Public House

Windmill Pub Witham 

Grade: II

Date Listed: 21 January 1994
English Heritage Building ID: 387859
OS Grid Reference: TA1071229284
OS Grid Coordinates: 510712, 429284
Latitude/Longitude: 53.7482, -0.3226 
 and the pubs in the

• Conservation Area around the Old Town .A lovely restoration job seems to have been done on the Green Bricks Pub, and its still a pub

 I noted the ceiling in my  old bank, Yorkshire Penny Bank at the very end of Savile Street,  now a popular CaffeNero. Thank God for the History lecturer at College who used to keep saying Look Up !Look Up!  I find such treasure above the many changed shop signs  in all urban streets  and shop interiors when plaster board has not lowered the ceilings. I don't really care if the Windmill Pub becomes a Greasy Spoon or a Cash Converter Shop as long as the workmanship and design of the tiles is kept . Coffee Shops from banks are perfect recycling .

Caffe Nero oka YPBank Savile Street Hull

• Now for the GRIPE

Seated area next to Lidl and across from Asda

I took the bus to Lidl , not the Beverley High Road one but the Hessle Road one. The Hessle Road is one of the most historic roads in Hull , skirting as it once did the Fish Dock , St Andrews. Closed to shipping in 1975 as the Fishing Industry moved out of Hull as practices changed , the Hessle Road still remains as the homeground of thousands of families whose fathers, grandfathers and sons and brothers once did business on the great waters *. 

This is a great area of the Culture of Hull , and I hope that the most is made of it from what remnants  here and in other dock sites remain.

Lidl and Asda ,those monuments to the buying habits of  Supermarket Shoppers nationwide are not high on my list of Public Spirited members of the community . 

Here you see  the detritus of the 21st Century man on the Bayswater Omnibus. We are all to blame ! Councils do not employ men and women to pick up litter, parents do not seem to instruct their children to refrain from dropping litter and those with addiction Habits have not got the inclination to be tidy or sometimes even clean. The homeless would not sleep here, and because I did not have any strong gloves I darent not even pick the cans in to the bins (many metres away ).

I would expect that Asda an Lidl who thrive on the spending of punters like me who get the bus just next to this quagmire of filth ,would really help the community by DOING THEIR BIT. It would take 1 employee 30 mins wearing Strong Gloves and carrying a black sack  to clear this up, even if they had to do it every day . 

I ask You Lidl ,and I ask you Asda 

could you spare  someone from your store for 15 mins a day each , pay them top rates it's a dirty job , and see if you can make your little bit of the CITY of CULTURE  a little more pleasant and more CIVILISED 

*Psalm 107 v23 

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;”
King James Version (KJV)

Requisite for body and soul, Wydale , a perspective .

Reposted in 2020 with new photos

Requisite for body and soul, Wydale , a perspective 

For several years I have been able to keep my Aged Parent  happy by lending her my battered copy of the 100th Edition of Crockfords. She has loved looking up Clergy she has known  and seeing if they are still alive. She is 95 and now living in the past , but always likes to know about Wydale  Hall ,our Diocese of York Retreat House .  AP talks fondly of her time in the 1970s  helping out, when she was widowed , at Bishops House , IONA, (I like the linked review from a spiritual Tripadvisor), the retreat house for the  Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. She made lasting friendships, and was able to grieve , and helping with the menial tasks of a place of hospitality for Spiritual  refreshment and Pilgrimage  gave her time to re-focus and seek direction and Healing  for herself.

I am guessing, without Crockfords , that there must be dozens of Anglican Diocesan Retreat Houses still trading . Now I have issue with Crockfords , Why do they not have a page of Diocesan Retreat houses listed ? The Church of England Year Book has a list of Retreat Houses, including Diocesan ones but not specifically so .

Few Diocesan Retreat Houses actually advertise at all in the Online and paper Retreat Listings . I do not have time to wade through websites and check out mission statements .If its an Anglican House I can expect , not withstanding the beauty of our broadchurch , that all our  Diocesan Retreat houses being under Authority , are going to be offering Courses , Holidays , Quiet Days and Conference facilities that I can trust . So please Church House Publishing publish  a list in Crockfords, I am quite able to discern from there on , having passed the first filter. Reading the sparse PDFs of Synod reports which mention Retreat Houses I cannot believe that the Anglican church in the UK is trying to keep them as undiscovered gems, when the treasure is yearning to be shared.

So to Wydale Hall ,  my own York Diocesan Retreat &Conference Centre, a short drive from Filey , where I live and work and have my being.

Here on the North Yorkshire Coast , south  of Scarborough , and a part of the UK that is a holiday retreat for thousands, we are always getting mentioned in the Sunday Papers.  We are  a destination of choice, a place for a second home, a place with the best beach, the best fish and chips , etc, but this all comes with an infrastructure of Industry that has been finely  honed since the coming of the Railways .

The people of Filey and especially those in the Tourist trade , service a vast Industry .

From June to September we never take the car after 9am to Scarborough to the Building Society, or the hospital , M and S or Boyes (our much loved local emporium). We never go to our local greengrocer or butcher after 9.30am. The pavements of Filey are always four  abreast with happy tourists  with their children , mothers in law and dogs, enjoying a retreat of the seaside kind. Its the same all over this part of Yorkshire, beach or moor, dale or castle , we are a magnet for holiday makers, and proud we are that they all love us so much.

Wydale Hall then is where Filey Parishioners  love to go away from it all . We can go for the day to a Quiet Day , for Communion on the first  Wednesday in the month, for a couple of nights just re -charging our batteries. We can sign up for a course, or take our Youth Groups away for a break at the Emmaus Centre , have a Parish weekend , and all  just a short drive from home into a different world. Laughing lunches at Wydale are now being mentioned in our Parish magazine .

Every year in August a group from Filey Parish go for a few days holiday together, and this is open for anyone ,especially those who live alone and wants a break , or those who can’t do much but want to enjoy the views and not cook for a few days. Pat organises optional games and Rummikub in the evenings and makes sure all are included and special and those who want to walk have got company . Enough cars are taken so that everyone has a lift , and if a visit to Thornton le Dale is fancied, off they go and hit the Cake shops.

I have done much of my growing at Wydale . I remember the Quiet days that were led by Rev Ron Treasure in the 90s and 00s, where opportunities for counselling , Laying on of hands for Healing , and personal and private prayer times changed my life for ever. The same goes for Parish Weekends. It took a lot of courage for spouse and I to go to our first one. We didn’t want to go but felt we should join the rest of our homegroup. Twice , in 2010 and 2012 we were led by Rev Keith Powell , a Diocesan Renewal Adviser from Somerset . We were truly zapped in the most lasting (and anglican way ) no hype, no fuss , just good teaching and much Holy Spirit Power. The Parish Media Team blogged  through those times at Wydale, you may like to join us and see what the Lord Did with us, I have  put links at bottom of this post .  **

Diocesan Retreat centres, like  *Parcevall Hall for those in the West Riding are always Lovely houses in beautiful locations. They are all prayed in places and in my experience can  have an atmosphere of the aroma of God. They are places where the Holy Spirit dynamic may be ‘felt ‘. I find the atmosphere , fragrance , peace of God in Wydale, set in a hidden valley above Snainton, and yet is only half a mile from the busy Scarborough to Pickering road.

Yesterday I  went with Rev Liz Kitching to Wydale for the ride. She was taking her monthly informal Communion open to anyone there.

My beloved came too , and joined Liz for the HC. I wandered the grounds , got Mark the manager to show me the view again from the top bedrooms, sampled the coffee and sussed out any changes. I hadn’t been for 18 months since visits to Aged Parent in Beverley have taken so much of my time and head. I’d prayed for good weather, as I wanted to see the Labyrinth again in the walled garden . I rang my Telephone Prayer Partner Rachel in Nottingham first . She always keeps me in line, with her experience and good sense. On Bank Holiday Monday Rachel had been disappointed because she and her family , including small boy were due to have day out at her own Diocesan house Launde Abbey.It was pouring with rain so they couldnt go’ but I was told about last years Open day,with  Car Boot sale, Classic Cars to view, Games for children ,refreshments and Open Chapel . It sounded if the whole of Nottingham and Leicester go to - Next year Rachel !!  Wydale is different . I couldn’t work out where a Car Boot Sale could even go, but that is the joy of Diversity !

Wydale was looking great, Mark the manager didn’t have to tell me about the Work Party that had done so much in August. I read about it from York Dioceses e-newsletter, and of the 55 people who painted and gardened . What a great idea thought I! A working holiday in such a lovely place .

Jenny and Judith were working in the walled garden yesterday  with new pink Wheelbarrow, they are Friends Volunteers. Jenny said that helping at Wydale was just what she loved to do following the death of her husband. The Wydale Gardener  Ken and Charlie the maintenance man  were making safe the handrails on the steps down from the terrace, and like Parcevall hall have Moles on the lawn !

There are lots of new touches in the Public rooms, and the bedrooms are all being updated as funds allow. The last manager Barry made positive  changes and this continues .His years of hard work were appreciated. Mark the new manager brings his own gifting and we in Filey will support him all we can . These special houses are such an asset and we need to use them and   publicise them .

The Lacemakers were just finishing their workshop together.

Rural Deans and a bishop and lots of clergy were having  a meeting too, and lunch , only the ladies wore clerical collars , but none was our new Bishop Of Hull . We are longing to meet her . Rev Liz says she’s been to Westway Open Arms and she’s ‘fab’ !

From all over the UK with cushions covered in bobbins and threads they had been updating their skills for a few days  with  tutors from Belgium . I’ll be able to tell AP all about that . She’ll  smile and tell me about her wedding veil of Brussels lace that had been her mother’s too in about 1908. We’ll talk about all the times she’s been to Wydale . She might say it belonged to her father, or that she had lived here once. I just go along with it .

So I’m sitting in my little office in this old cottage, thanking God for the central heating on today for the first time since June. The children go back to school here on Wednesday next , so town is still full of caravanners , day trippers and people in holiday cottages working out how to light the Log Burner and thinking where to dine out tonight in Filey.

We’ve had non stop visitors here since July knocking to say Hello! whilst they have a day out at the seaside.

A day or two In Wydale would make a good break,  the many trees around Wydale Hall will soon be thinking of shutting down for the winter as well, so all the views will change.  Jesus was very keen on being away from it all , and by God incidence my early morning Bible reading on my You Version Bible app yesterday was about having rest and refreshment.

‘The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people and not people to meet the needs of the Sabbath’ NLT Mark 2 v 27

‘Most of all we need to stop and pause and fill our cups with God, even if it’s not on Sundays or for an entire day. Making time to rest in the Lord can be really challenging, but the benefits of that are worth the effort’ from the Devotion ‘The lies of Busyness’ from www.timeofgrace.org

*All I know from a visit to Parcevall Hall was that a mole came up through the lawn about a yard from where I was walking with my husband . It might not have been special for the gardeners , but it was wonderful for us.

**

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/please-pray-for-our-parish-weekend-away.html

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/2pm-saturday-afternoon-of-rest.html

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/saturday-night-from-wydale.html

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/sunday-at-wydale.html

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/1-keep-praying-and-bless-blogging.html

http://fileyparish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/3connect-to-wydaish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/down-and-out-in-wydale-hall.html

l

Entrepreneurs of Hull , read this ! #Hull City Of Culture

In my mind Ive never seen this in the Science Museum . I must have done , but never read the label and realised that it was the very one that was flown by Amy Johnson to Australia, D.H.60 Moth 1928 G-AAAH Jason.

She is a famous daughter of Hull, and many of us learned about her thrilling flight as we were at school just after the  2nd World War. Hull people needed a heroine then , just as we do now. I've been to Sewerby and seen the exhibition of her personal artefacts donated by her family .

So today I read in the Times that the Science Museum has refused to lend the plane to Hull for the City Of Culture 2017 event . Their reasons are all very sound, just as Hulls reasons for borrowing it are very sound. This debate will no doubt run . I wait to see comments on the Hull Facebook and Hull and East Riding  pages, which are THE place to see what Hullesians really think. IMO. AS a rider here I say that Philip Larkin might have been a great poet, but SON OF HULL HE WAS NOT. 

So to you organisers of festivals and entrepreneurs of Kingston upon Hull's City of Culture 2017 event, make something of this!

Hire a large warehouse or Shop  down Humber Street:

• Make a Lego replica of the Gipsy Moth (Span 8.84m (29’) Length 7.16m (23’6”)
• Make a cardboard replica of the Gipsy Moth 
• Make a CAD of the one in the Science Museum , they cant object to that , display on giant screen
• Order very small, plastic models of the Gipsy Moth (in a local Plastic Factory ) to sell 
• Make a film , a Biopic starring locals , and involving students doing Media Studies
• Have a competition amongst local Schools to write short stories about Amy Johnson , or Play Scripts. Arrange for the best to be performed in the exhibition Venue, filmed or shared on u tube
• Get your 8 year old grandchildren to design a Minecraft Aviation game , or adventure 
• Get a Listening Project going like the one on BBC radio 4 where people of Hull aged 80 can talk about Amy Johnson, Aviation, travelling by Air, doodlebugs etc

There I've given you a start !Get Going NOW

Still Growing

I've not been up to the plot for a week, but I'm sure that everything will have grown even more. 

My Echiums are sending up their flower spikes and that is a worry ,as as the first frost normally kills the Echiums unless they are frost protected. 

I have covered them with  fleece and put a piece of perspex on the top. A waste of time really as the flower spike is growing so fast on this one pictured that its moving the top. 

Im going to have to start all over again and redo all of them just before the onset of the first frost as its predicted on my BBC APP weather for Filey . 

The Shallots and Garlic have made great growth on the plot, and I was picking the last of the Sugar snap peas a few weeks ago.

I read in the Times yesterday that daffodils were in full bloom in Maidenhead. Father (Died 1975) always gave Mother a bunch for Christmas flown in from the Channel Isles not from mainland UK.

So I Might be interested to see what I can find in flower in Ordnance Survey km square TA1281 when I go for my 3 hour plant in flower spotting walk on New Years Day 

Hull City of Culture 2017 (one)

The first of occasional blog posts ,  a contribution to the preparations of my home city as it becomes 

the UK City of Culture 2017 

I'm going to be kind about Kingston upon Hull. The City of Culture for 2017 is just my favourite City north of the Humber , west of Leeds and south of Newcastle. I have known it for 68 years and 8 months and 17days. I love its potential and I love its blatant  cheek. Its so needs to be City of Culture 2017 and most of all its people  need to stop complaining about the City Council, the fat Cats owning derelict land, the state of Edwin Davis's, the bad Town planning of the 1960s and 70s and just RISE ABOVE IT and start being positive.

I've been watching the billboarding as one comes into Paragon from all other stations in the country. There we have it. For like Bristol and Oban one can only go into Kingston on Hull on the train . The Scarborough to Sheffield train goes into Hull and out again . A hundred and 20 years ago Hull was a thoroughfare for migrants from Baltic States, and  my own economic migrant Great Grandfather,  Benjamin John Elder Bruce . Having been Chief Waterworks Engineer for the City of Hull in the 1870s he  took all his large family to New York in the 1890s, with the exception of my grandfather who was an Engineer on Wilson line .(Later Ellerman Wilson Line). The platform for Migrants travelling through Hull to Liverpool is still there at Paragon Station. 

My credentials and right to speak -

• born in Albert Avenues Ingarvie Nursing home before the NHS. Brought into the world by my aunt , a Midwife who volunteered and gave her time freely to help her sister peri and post natally . Born in the year that saw a huge rise in births after the war . 
• born as eldest of  a family of 5 who rented a small flat in Marlborough Avenue, rather than live with in -laws in a city where bombing had razed to the ground all social housing on a scale never seen before. 
• born into a City still reeling from the devastation and trauma of years of war whose only consolation was that it was known, though never allowed to glory in being ,just A city on the East coast
• Educated at Cavendish Road Primary School and the innovative and bold Scheme tried but failed called, Greatfield High School with 3 schools on campus, Newton Hall. Shakespeare Hall and Elizabethan Hall
• Nurtured by a local family , encouraged, and affirmed. A child taken to the New Theatre to see Opera and Ballet in the afternoon matinees.
•  Taught to appreciate the local area, from Holderness to the Wolds and walked round Old Hull and shown interesting pre war remnants .
• A teenager  who spent Saturdays going to the Library in Albion Street and the City Hall for the Halle and had a season ticket for  Hull Choral Union, whose best friend's Dad worked at Reckitts and had read more books than I'd even heard of and could talk on any subject .
• A young person who discovered Ferens Art Gallery in the days when the cafe was upstairs, and  coffee out in Fields was a treat , and who was not allowed to go to the milk bar (I ask u!) near Whiting and Pitts where all the incrowd of the 6th form went  or the Locarno where everyone else went . 
• Someone who has lived away from Hull and returned to appreciate it , having an informed perspective

I left home as soon as I could,   and went alone to work in London , getting a flat with a girl from college who I barely knew , and worked , married and lived there for years . A City of Culture I really know about , I return to the Capital as often as I can . I know what Kingston upon Hull could be as a Culture Hub. London it will never be, why would anyone want it to be something its not ? Its a unique , historic, gutsy city, and I'm going  to give it some encouragement of of my own  over the next 13 months  before 2017. 

Larkin Statue
Hull Blitz
Toads and Larkin
Weekend in Hull

Well I was warned about insomnia !

Saffron Crocuses

This has been an exciting week in our household .

Rhubarb Chard

It peaked on Wednesday evening with the final of GBBO*. I had never seen much of the programme before, spouse had , as he made me buy an orange top in M and S which he liked on Mary . I wore it twice and gave it away , it was just not me , or Mary as she only wore it once according to my telly critic husband. When I'm out on the allotment he sometimes rests from his book and I come in to find Come Dine With Me is having an unashamed airing in our sitting room . My men seem to like cookery programmes, and I don't take it as a hint as I'm quite good at cooking, just bored with it after 45 years of dinners. Last Sunday daughter and I made our men come out for Sunday lunch to one of the Filey no frills Pubs. It was all on the plate for £6 and just delicious. It made such a change for me too, and the small boys loved it and the Pool Table . 

I remember my Aged P saying that she just couldn't think of what to cook , and it had become a chore. I'm not at that stage yet, but I am finding it difficult to cope with all the dietary restrictions suggested by the Filey Surgery for my spouse. The latest one is no purines. I am  a Biology teacher by training and yet had no idea what PURINES were. The Cardiologist told me to google it , and do my best so that GOUT would be limited in its appearances. I'm having a go at reducing our meat intake , not really a hardship : My vegetarian recipes are all so time consuming , however delicious the outcome, and I'm thanking God for Quorn which was just not around when my teenagers were going through a vegetarian Stage. 

Free seeded 

Weighing up , in my many sleepless nights ,the rows on my allotment which cause me  to rethink what to grow. I have for many years grown rows and rows of Swiss Chard and Rainbow Chard. The freezer is full of it. Of course its the simplest vegetable to grow and always looks attractive , even in the Flower Border. Its just that it needs to be eaten within a day of picking , unless put in a vase of water. and  though I have a list of friends who like to have some , unless they live on my walk home I'm too tired to divert to deliver some.  I will not grow so much chard then . It free seeds easily , and the best plants are often the ones that have .  So next year I will leave one of each of the best plants to seed themselves , red , green and pink and orange.
Sleepless nights have made me plan purine free and tasty vegetarian meals using the 4 aubergines which are my total crop for 2015 , and devise tasty soups where all the endless Runner beans are pureed and ordered to reinvent themselves with mint and peas. Spouse says he's had enough Green soup , even with mustard added.
Sleepless nights too have cut down the blackberry , weeded between the raspberries and rhubarb , ordered more manure and sharpened and cleaned the shears. Sleepless nights with the addition of anxiety have made sure all the Horsetails are pulled out without dropping a single bit ,and put  the incinerator bin . Allotment partner has nearly eradicated his ,with his patent method involving wire wool and weed killer-dont ask !
Sleepless nights , I was once warned , may lead to taking actions that are regretted in the light of day . Its such a shame that I know my Amazon password even in the small hours, and even more of a shame that Amazon knows my Visa Card number even in the middle of the night .Its a shame that my phone , neatly backlit does not disturb sleeping bedfellow as I do half an hour of Facebook and see that friend has planted a row of Crocus sativus on her allotment so that she may harvest some Saffron .
The parcel arrived yesterday ;25 neat autumn flowering Saffron Crocuses which in the middle of the night I bought and paid for . I planted them today hoping they will autumn flower , and that I will be able to give my friends some saffron on the way home. Ive got lots of Saffron in the Spice cupboard. I buy it every time I go to the Chinese Supermarket in Scarborough. My children bring it back from Spain for me. I always forget to use it now that I use the ready cooked 2minute Microwave rice.
Next time I  am sleepless I will look out for a recipe for Saffron buns , or maybe  I wont .

*Great British Bake Off

From Everlasting to Everlasting

I'm listening to the Dream of Gerontius. It is the perfect mix of melancholy and hope . I'm feeling maudlin with due reason , as my Aged Parent died a good death last night. For the 9 years of this Blog I've often written about my trips to Beverley to visit her , take her to Communion, to Tesco's , to the Hospital , to the bank , and then just to see her. 

This perfect little town, a hours drive across the Wolds from here, has been a welcome and interesting stimulus for putting thoughts to e-paper. I drive  from Filey,through Hunmanby ,Burton Fleming, Kilham, Driffield and Leconfield. I was going to say I know every hedge and pond, but it would be better to say I know every place where the speed cameras catch One. I know that most of the way I have to drive quite slowly as the potholes at the edges of these country roads are lethal, I've already had to have the Volvos suspension( if thats the word) seen to. It could be that I went over the bumps on the allotment road too quickly, but I blame the stretch of road between Kilham and Rudston. On my return journeys from mother when I drove past the site of the Roman Villa on the Kilham to Rudston Road, always stopped and admired the view.  From Driff to Beverley it is the Leconfield road that catches the most speed merchants. I did get some points on my licence once  for going 37 miles an hour. I thought that a bit mean , but it did make me cautious from then on . The 50 mile an hour speed limit from Hutton to Beswick seems so slow. Often I opt to go by train to Beverley. If I went  to Hull to visit my sister and Primark  I always disembarked on the return journey and visited Mother  , had a coffee in CaffeNero , a walk round M and S and then back on the train . Beverley had everything for a daughter visiting a Mother in a Care Home, and was responsible for 2 years of good visits . The ambiance and History of the town always delighted me . (Note to self -keep going back , get to know the town in a new context!)

Whilst Beverley town  has been my balm in difficult days, my allotment remains as my constant and necessary balm for everydays and alldays.

Dave's Everlasting Flower bed

Many times I go from home to water the greenhouse in hot weather, to pick berries in the mellow months, to weed in the verdant ,weed frenzied months and to generally just look around and sit alone all the months . Its my place of SPACE, my retreat , and the place where I tell the time by the passing of the trains from Beverley every 2 hours, realise Ive been gone 2 hours and hurry home hoping Herons is still open .They are used to me with a basket trailing soil and full of assorted flowers and veg which I have to move on to  the counter whilst I find my purse.
My neighbour has been growing Everlasting Flowers,  now called Xerochrysum bracteatum  since they were got at by the taxonomic botanists in 1990 . I still call them Helichrysums , but then I still call the Mint Family, Labiatae instead of Lamiacea. I know what I mean.

My Clary Bed

I sit on my white plastic chair outside the greenhouse  and look out across my plot , Dave's Plot, Bernard's plot and Eddie's plot . I know it looks colourful at the moment as my sister went passed on the train and then told me so. My Clary and David's Everlasting flowers, Bernard's Michaelmas Daisies (just in bud), all our Sunflowers, and most importantly our free seeded Nasturtiums which David and I like, and Brian two plots away hates with a Vengeance.
Its been a good year for the Everlasting Flowers. I remember when Flower Arrangers like me would spend hours wiring them all, for the Dried Flower Arrangements I so loved in the 80s, but now  hate  . I hate them even more since visiting Aged Parent in Care Home . Everywhere one went they would be lurking , the shelf in the Visitors Cloakroom, the side tables in the sitting rooms , and in Mother's room when she first arrived . I caused that particular vase to have an accident .
Now I LOVE the way my allotment neighbour has dealt with them . Having grown them so that without blemish the large flower heads , just open enough to show their symmetry and beauty they are then picked and the heads thoroughly dried .They can make the summer last till the next time summer comes . And last they will in the way that Casa David and Jen are using them . They put them in a Goldfish bowl.

I am growing Kale for the first time ever. My Aged Parent grew it in row after row in Sutton on Hull in our large garden . I used to dread her saying just go and cut some Kale for dinner please Margaret Mary. I did not appreciate the way it was cooked. It would be boiled to death in lots of cold water brought up to the boil , and then a plate would be pressed on it to get the water out. Spouse remembers his mother cooking and straining the water off cabbage in just the same way . Thankfully nowadays we realise that the young Kale leaves  may be quickly stir fried, and it is a cut and come again veg for summer through to next summer  , everlasting till everlasting . M and S it must be said do the most delicious Kale crisps which are deep fried in Cashew Butter, but at £2 a small 30 gm bag they are not going to have my money very often .

As David remembers the sunshine all through the winter , I am going to remember my beloved Mother everytime I pick some Curly Kale .

Pomodoro and other Red Tomatoes at the seaside

I was over 6 months pregnant when I last went to Rome. I was viewed as an oddity as 44 years ago I never saw any pregnant Italian women . We were staying with Colin's Aunt and uncle who lived just off the Via Cristoforo Colombo. Aunty Kay said that it wasn't usual for Italian women to be out and about the way I was, travelling on the buses and trains and eating out every night in the local restaurants  . I was watching the very pregnant Victoria Coren on Only Connect last night . It reminded me of the near purdah of the Italian women and of the Laura Ashley tents I used to wear when I was enceinte . 
Now ,what I will always remember from La Roma 1974 beside learning to say due Birri for then we still did have the occasional uno, was the wonderful food .  Aunty Kay and Uncle Edgar took us round ruin after ruin, and spouse and I trailed round fountain after fountain ourselves, we did Villa Julia and got blessed by Il Papa on Easter Day in the square before San Pietro. BUT we ate out nearly every day at all the places where the locals and their bambini ate .
For all the years since 1974 I have grown tomatoes , grown them in all the greenhouses of my life, grown them on all the allotments of my life and in all the kitchen window sills of my life .
Except for this year.
The lovely food in all the Roman cafes , trattoria, pizzeria and restaurants , AND in all the Italian cafes , trattoria , pizzeria and restaurants in my UK food journey have all depended heavily on Tomatoes , garlic and herbs. In my much used Italian Vegetarian Cookery book I have made Spinach and Rice pies, Onion Pies, and all sorts of Frittatas , but try as I can , they are never interesting enough without some dish of tomatoes, homemade sauce , salsa, salad or just ketchup from Mr Heinz. My store cupboard groans with tins of Chopped tomatoes, Whole Plum tomatoes and tomato Puree. As hard as I try, I can never grow tomatoes as well as anyone else on the allotments. A friend is always calling by with bags of his , my allotment partner grows them well enough without even trying. Mine were a disaster last year so Ive not grown any at all this year. Two have seeded down by the Asparagus, and are doing really well all on their own .
Now we are not able to do much at the moment and I'm really ready for a break . I know you say well you have been up the Rhine this year,  spouse was not well all the time and I had to act as a Cooks Tour guide to get us to Amsterdam and from Basel on Public transport  so Im ready for just a change of scenery . I'm not grumbling ,  I'm ready for a little break after our busy August of visitors and the increasing emotional strain of visiting my aged parent whose mind is leaving her.
So yesterday we had the small boys for the day as parents were both working and we had to take them with us to Scarborough so that we could go the Building Society .
Five years ago I wrote about another day at the seaside,  This year was so much easier. Small boys still loved the ride on the 120 bus to Scarborough . They never stopped talking all the time, just as 5 years ago, such a novelty for them , to be on a bus!
Lunch was at our favourite Italian in Scarborough Pomodoro . The boys had been rehearsing their orders to Barbara since we left Filey . They did have good practice at our very own Filey Italian we call Bella a few weeks ago when their cousins were staying, but this was sans parents and lunchtime. They were hungry ,not tired after a days romping on the beach , and rather more grown up than they had been a fortnight ago, as they'd just returned from a week in Andalucia .
 I have been waiting for  a Melanzane parmigiana for 2 years.  In fact I've not eaten any Olive Oil for 2 years, but now that my system can take fat again I had been waiting for this Pomodoro Moment . I make this dish frequently , and have perfected the oil free version , but really it is nothing like the real thing when the aubergines have been fried not grilled as in my fat free version .And made by a good Italian chef it bears no resemblance to what is served in the  Italian Chain eateries . Lunch took ages , we were enjoying everything . The cafe was full of locals , tables were chatting across to tables, and everyone was happy. Nothing was left on plates, huge icecreams and meringues and dolce were eaten  by Colin and the boys , and I had my usual Double Expresso . If you are reading this at Filey Surgery my spouse assures me it was a one off and we have Diabetic Icecream in the freezer for his Sunday Birthday  .

Our day out just went on and on . We took the advice of an Artist and Gallery owner at the next table during lunch and went down a few dozen yards to Blands Cliff to see the Murals . I have lived near Scarborough for 25 years and did not realise that these wonderful Murals started in 2001 were even there . The boys loved them , of an age to appreciate , and well used to Galleries and paintings they were fascinated. I thought I was the only person to have dreamt up the idea painting of Hokusai waves with a local landmark in my Teaching days in Bridlington , when Liz Smith  and I were Island hopping to Japan with Year 6 (Flamborough Light being our Fuji), but no -Nothing new under the sun .

Kingston upon Hull is to be the next City of Culture. I hope they get lots of Artists to do murals round Whitefriargate, it could sure do with livening up . I loved the Hackney ones, and the Brighton Ones.

Blands Cliff is very steep, so we planned to go up to the top another way , and walked along past the sands to the Cliff lift , in itself a good 80p worth for small boys working out how it worked. Reuben had not finished with Culture however and said he would take us to a gallery of great paintings near a statue of Queen Victoria. We couldn't work out where he meant, we'd taken him to the Scarborough Art Gallery many times and the Rotunda but no! he said ,it was just at the top of the hill. He meant the Tracy Savage shop, whose prints on Birthday Cards are sold in Filey at the Red Box. Children accompanied only by Adults it said, but it was only to stop touching the pictures , no rudey nudies.

Home now and thinking about a simple day out with small boys on the bus with Pizza for them from a Real Italian , pictures to enjoy and discuss , and the whole day rounded off  watching Episode 11 of  our only purchase, with assurances that they were allowed. The Pick- a- sweet option in Choice News was offered and refused, they just Dr Who'ed in happy silence.

Christian sings Matt Redman as he undergoes revolutionary brain op

Christian sings Matt Redman as he undergoes revolutionary brain op  Not only is this a great story , but the song itself has the most uplifting words, so I have decides to play this every day to give me a positive start to my day .

Hoping it will all go away..

Hoping it will all go away , maybe so, as David Cameron has had to do a u turn in the way he is perceived to be dealing with the humanitarian crises of the Refugees, Asylum seekers and migrant workers trying to enter Dover. Should the title say Hoping they will all go away, go somewhere else? This whole situation is making everyone talk. After Christmas everyone was talking about Je suis Charlie, and now that the dust has settled on this topic we can all look back and re-assess our thoughts and actions at the time.

My husband , not usually talkative before breakfast , thinks that the mood of the people , the vox populi is driving the actions of not only the politicians, crowd pleasers and passengers on the Bayswater Omnibus but  in themselves are the force  force driving the  momentum of the mood, voice and actions of the UK . Everything going on seems to be in direct reaction to the pictures on the Front Pages , on the TV and especially for me on Twitter and Facebook . People are saying the most awful things on Twitter ,negative things and cruel things about other humans. If the Humanitarian crises unfolding at present were Caninitarian, everything , reactions, actions , talk and banter would be so different . 

Its seems to spouse and I that all the crises at the present have never had a parallel in human history before, as never before have the Social Media been such disruptive, positive and  negative driving forces. 

Aged parent talked about the rise of fascism in the 30s, an uncle talked about being one of the first into Belsen , a friend had to deal with  foot  and mouth outbreaks in 2000. None of these happenings had the Benefit, if thats the word of TWITTER, and even now people don't believe that the Holocaust ever happened, and we cant assimilate the Humanitarian Crises of genocide in Africa as being like a Holocaust, the Nigerian girls trafficked now nearly 2 years ago have still  not been found.

Today Louise  sent me a message , which I received as I was sitting up in bed doing my YOU VERSION Bible Reading. She wanted me to share her post on the Parish Facebook Page. I had to read her message , as the message logo was covering my bible reading. She is asking for donations of Teddy Bears for the children of Syrian and other  refugees , for a friend who has  started a collection. 

Now here is the bit you might not want to read , or you might be surprized . I dont like Teddies, I dont like Cuddly Toys, and all though my children were given them by doting aunts , so had enough, I didnt take much notice of Louises Message. BUT I was in the middle of my quiet time , and got a HS prod. Then I started thinking about it . 

I have had 3 children under 4 years old, I have 4 grandchildren  now , and I am a selfish cow. Small children in the Filey , my small grandchildren , the small Teddy Using children of Filey will never understand the horrors going on for Syrian Refugees, and I don't want them to , I want them to enjoy their own childhood and be free from unecessary FEAR. 

Small Children do understand they may give a Teddy to another child who has not got one !

Interesting Link re Teddies

Bounty and Plenty

Italian Vegetarian Cookery by Paola Gavin 1987

I walk back from my allotment the longest way I can, calling on prospective recipients of Marrow and Courgettes. 

I have no trouble at all getting rid of Chard. My Spinach and Rice Pie, using my fresh off the allotment Swiss Chard, Rainbow Chard, or Spinach Beet has been keeping us nourished for 20 years since my children were going through serious vegetarian Dietary requirements. (And spouse and I have bacon with it, no cooking different meals for family members). Its like a solid risotto cake and I always serve it with lots of Parmesan and Homemade tomato sauce, made with homegrown tomatoes and garlic. This makes me sound a very accomplished gardener, but I can assure you that Tomatoes and garlic are not plentiful on my plot , I rely on the bountiful and generous surplus of my gardening neighbours. 

I have new neighbours on my allotment this year. They are . with Bernard my allotment partner, wonderful neat and tidy gardeners with manicured rows and giant vegetables. They come from different gardening disciplines , and I have most in common with my immediate neighbour who is also a devotee of the School of Companion Planting. He has a whole bed of Comfrey of the non invasive Bocking type, grows Marigolds and Nasturtians. My allotment partner doesn't mind the haphazard growth of Phacelia between the shared  rows of Raspberries, as long as I dig it in in neatly . (Which I will eventually, I promise!)

Our little problem is what to do with the Marrows and Courgettes ? I did stuffed Marrow  with Cheese Sauce at the weekend. I have made Courgette Frittata . I am looking for more recipients with time on their hands for Marrow and Ginger Jam . Meanwhile , nothing is wasted, as D leaves them  outside the greenhouse for me to use or give away I am doing both . And Ive just found a recipe in the Italian Cookbook for Courgette soup.