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 .

Poster been and gone

You might have seen a Poster for the Family Fun Day  in our Parish of Filey appear on this blog this morning. I have deleted it because it was on my wrong blog. I am also a Webmistress of our Filey Parish Blog, and you don't know how much pleasure it gave me to write that clause. I posted  the poster advert too quickly in between breakfast and trying to tune in Radio York on the PC so that Colin could hear the Filey Bit this morning. 

On my profile it looks as if I run over a dozen blogs.  

• This is not really true, as I am in a team for 6 of them. Our Parish website , called Filey Parish Blog is run as a series of blogs which operate as a whole.  When the the Website Team first got together in 2008 we prayed , drank coffee , and took the advice of Simon Rudiger  and Pete Finch for many weeks, until the Holy Spirit led us into what you see now. Simon has moved on to a high powered job for the URC and now lives  in Aylesbury , Pete is a busy Maths teacher. Now only Brian , Rachel and I do posts regularly.  Pam,  Ben ,Bobby and Pete occasionally blog  but we are still a team altogether .Anyone in the Parish who would like to join us  my have 'permissions' The blog is much as it was and deemed fit for purpose. BUT We  are ready to evolve and grow.
•  From Kiaora is just my contribution to the recording of the History of Filey,  all my pictures are to be as large files  to our Filey Archivist  Eric Pinder.   In years to come the development of the site next to my home , Kiaora, will be accessible for future generations, hopefully.
• Samson  is a series of letters written home to his master by our lodger Samson
• My  other blogs are just places to leave photos other than Picasa and Flickr
• This blog is my main one because it is my place to be just myself. 

I dont really have too many hats, I just sometimes forget which one I am supposed to have on.

So I have done what we are never to do on the Parish Blog -remove a post. You will be surprised by my reasons. I just dont as myself do Fundraising in Church.   I have chosen never to gamble , so don't do raffles, Tombolas and the like. I don't stand  behind stalls selling stuff. I have what the rest of the Parish might call Peculiar Ideas

I will explain. I think that if people tithed their income there would be no need for fundraising in the C Of E. AND  no one would moan about the Parish Quotas. 

An aside Mary our vicar has just preached her best sermon ever. I feel a rant about Superstition coming on next

Mark all as read

For two years now I have been enjoying  the blogs of others.  I store the posts in  Google Reader, which is just  another service offered by Google. I just subscribe to the posts of others by copying their urls  and pasting them into the  dialogue box .  What is more , when people have deleted blogs I still have them!!

Every couple of months I do a radical prune and unsubscribe from  all but the ones I  really really love. After all I now can just  find them easily enough on the blogrolls of those left behind. More so than that , Tweetdeck for Twitter gives instant access by the links people put to their latest blogs . So I no longer subscribe to The ChurchMouse for example or Cranmer , to name a few , as I can see on Twitter if they have done a post that  sounds interesting and go straight to it.

I dont have an iphone. I have given enough hints to my progeny. I am happy to have their cast offs. So for the time being my little networking system is fine for me. The Mac is usually on in the  upstairs sitting room , and the PC in the  main one next to the kitchen. I don't sit here all day, tempting tho it might be. I just flit in and out and have a quick look. Whilst others have tea breaks I have Twitter breaks . At this moment spouse is watching the  Chelsea FS. We have had dinner, Samson is asleep on the floor,  and I am across the room from both of them next to the window. I can see anyone coming to the back door through the Venetian blinds, but they cant see me. Sometimes when C comes home from work I feel guilty that he might think Ive been sitting here all day, when Ive actually been gardening  most of the day, cooked dinner from scratch with no tins or jars, been shopping twice and  done the Times 2 Crossword. Cleaning doesn't really feature in my day . Thats why I really value Visitors for meals by appointment , as I have to get the Dyson out and maybe even the Liquid Gold.

I am just going to have another prune and subscribe to some new blogs. I just love going through the Blogrolls of others and seeing whats around. 

So here is my latest list of new finds

• Judys Journal 
• Dances with Midges
• A Country Churchwarden
• All things considered

And an old Favourite Yorkshire Coast

At  present I enjoy short posts as its Summer and I have lots to do being a Fileygardener  .

A bit of a blogger

On this very day 5years ago the Blogger Platform befriended me. It took me another 2 years before I managed pictures.  It took me longer to do scheduled posts . It took me until 2008 before I started to get followers and comments. Next came Linkwithin. I really like that, and got the idea from Revd Lesley  's blog.  I was on a plateau for a while and then I thought I would have a go at blogfeed. I got the idea from the VC.  I then made  a giant leap . I changed the name from Bridteacher to Fileygardener. After all, I have been a homegirl  in doors with Come Dine With me and the cat for 3 years now. Bridteacher gives the idea I can get more Windsmoor and afford Protect and Perfect for wrinkles,  and lots of holidays. 

I have  changed headers a few times. This above  is my favourite. I loved the ridge and furrow on the Country Park  this December past. When the Spring came  I had a crisis. I didn't want it to be always Christmas and never Summer. I tried and tried , but there is just no way I am Annie Leibovitz . None of these work. I will wait for some flash of inspiration . You are left with a Temporary Measure.

I have started tags.  I have no idea what they are for but other bloggers seem to use them. I don't want to be left behind in the technological rush to cyber nirvana.

I wonder if I'm brave enough to dip my toes in the the WordPress pond. Or shall I do a St Aiden to Abbey Manor, though that is much missed. I'm not inviting comments really , these are all rhetorical questions. My sister in Congleton will tell me when she's had enough, and my Aged Parent is dining out on what she knows about her daughters website thing, especially when it mentions her and Beverley Minster. Spouse has learned to scroll down and use the arrow keys. Daughter no 1 keep saying there's a blog Mum in there somewhere and she and her father will do meaningful glances. Daughter no 2 says I can do what I like, but no way can I talk about her and her family. She has not forgiven me for the Bodens one. No I son only reads the cats blog.

Happy  5th Anniversary to me. I see that today is what I was taught to call Empire Day, but that's gone ,as not PC , except my small one , but note with some relish that as Commonwealth Day which replaced it ,this years theme is

2011-Women as agents of Change

Organised Chaos

Thriving gold medal  hopefuls 

Organised Chaos-Well that's how  a visitor described our garden last year. We are watching that awful man again . How he spoils the Chelsea Flower Show for me. I would rather have Christine with her jumper bought over 20years ago in M and S.  And how do I know that?  My spouse has the same one, and its still in the drawer, he too just loves it.  Carol Klein has another fascinating coat and rhododendrons are in again. I hope they are not going to do any silly banter like  last year. If Tony Buckland had been left to his own devices  on Gardening World I'm sure we would have taken him more to our green hearts. What he actually says makes good sense.

Back to the SHOW , our Chaos would never win a  even a tin medal unless the attainment criteria were altered. I think there ought to be a new reality show on BBC  called My Garden, where people talk about their back gardens in Middlesborough and Canvey Island, Slough and Iona. It would not lessen the attraction of the RHS Chelsea  as seen by the  Beeb.

I lose sense of all time when Im gardening. C and I sit with cups of tea and The Times in the greenhouse , and call it gardening.  When he's at work I have more freedom. I can be ruthless as long as I hide the ruthless at the bottom of the brown Bin .  

We have a mediterranean  room in our garden , a vegetable garden  , a woodland garden, a national collection in waiting, a  sort of alpine garden , a lawn containing interesting species , and a gravel garden. Its amazing how it all fits in to a space 45'by 20'.

It is also a place of miracles. My sister has given me  Tropaeolum speciosum at least 4 times and I have never got it to grow higher than 7" and then die. So Susan look at this-the little green dot on the left. I have removed it to the antichamber of the greenhouse. I am going to talk lovingly to it and plant it in a more perfect spot.

Diamuid Gavin  I LOVE IT.YOU ARE A GENIUS

Next year you could take your inspiration from the A614 Driffield By -Pass

Yggdrasil Day

My Ash on the road to Rudston

Loyal followers will know by now that the road from Filey to Beverley and back is my favourite . 

I know every tree and shrub. I did know every pothole. Like Archdruid Eileen and her tealit family late of Husbourne Crawley and now back again without seeming to have gone anywhere I am totally dedicated to the seasons and equinoxes and wild plants in between. I know why the Ash Tree is the number one tree of the Norsemen and Norsewomen. 

*It is nothing at all to do with London Plane Trees. 

It is nothing at all to do with lay lines to Rudston

 or lack of snow on Holmenkollen in May.

The Ash tree is definitely the very last tree to come into bud on the Yorkshire Wolds . It is also the first tree to start turning yellow in the Autumn. This makes it totally noteworthy. 

The roads from Kilham to Rudston and from Burton Fleming to Kilham are lined frequently with Ash Trees. I look forward to seeing them every week on my trips to Beverley to take aged parent to HC at Beverley Minster . I know that Ash is the very best wood for burning too. So I know what to do if I survive past October 21st. 

 The Yggdrasil  of the Rudston Road may or may not have pictures of its cousins in the Oslo Radhus but it is on a pre-viking road within spitting distance of the site of a Roman Villa .

One thing that  would never have been on the Kilham Road in the Ist Century AD would have been a row of Potatoes. These were calling to the skies 'Please ! rain ', not nearly as much as the wail from the field  south of Kilham the rows there  were calling 'Please! Please !Please !Rain'.

* My Aged Parent has not believed me until today . I told her that the reason the bark of the trees outside her front door looked as if it was peeling was a design feature, and that the trees were London Plane Trees DEFINITELY. She only believed me today as the flowers and leaves are identifiable .

Hull Blitz-a city on the east Coast

Aunty Alice had to wear this homemade ID tag all during the 1939-45 war in case her body had to be identified.

Brown paper strips were still stuck to the pantry window even in 1986 when she died and the house was sold. 

An incendiary bomb did once land on the huge communal front lawn *and so as all the glass in the house was shattered and  had to be repaired, the family- Grandpa , Grandma, unable to walk  since 1930, Aunty Alice , spinster of the Parish , housekeeper, carer, cook and chief bottle washer,  were all evacuated to Market Weighton to the vicarage to sit out the war, but they did  return after a few months to Sutton.  My father worked for Hull Corporation Telephones and spent the war fire watching in Sutton at night having worked all day cycling round the docks doing telecommunication type things and hoping not to set off unexploded bombs  with the vibration of the bike. The air raid shelter was a reinforced dining room , as grandma was not mobile. My whole early years were coloured by stories of the war in Hull, and more especially its effect on a household.It was always drummed in to me that Hull was only ever called 'a city on the East Coast' and that a wider world just had no idea of the devastation.


*http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/pics/maps/_8.gif
http://www.hullblitz.org/

Have looked at these 2 sites and cannot verify the heresay from my Aunt, (who died 1986) Will talk to aged parent (91) tomorrow and see if she knows where the bomb dropped. She is all there and half way back and will remember what she was told. She , born in Birkenhead , spent most  of her war in the WAAF in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire and married my father in 1946.

Amendment


Mother said that there was a bomb and bomb blast. The family of Grandma, Grandpa and Aunty Alice did indeed go to Market Weighton for over a year. Father remained at Church Mount,and the maid was kept on to keep the house  clean and presumably do laundry . She did not live in , but came in every day. Father was in charge of the Sutton Telephone Exchange(corner of Holderness Road and Mayberry Ave). In the evenings he had to Fire Watch at the docks, and keep the telecommunications going on Ships.

HULL CITY OF CULTURE -ALWAYS HAS BEEN