Making Good Use

On the 11th Day of the 11th Month

In Memory of
Lance Corporal THOMAS SMITH GLASSON

15430, 11th Bn., Border Regiment
who died age 31
on 31 July 1916
Son of Mrs. Sarah Glasson, of London Rd., Carlisle; husband of Ethel Yule (formerly Glasson), of 57, Oswald St., London Rd., Carlisle.
Remembered with honour
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

He was my Grandma Yule's first husband.  He died six months after she had lost her first child, Nora, aged five, to diptheria.  They had two other daughters - my Auntie Betty and Auntie Ella.  I can't imagine how terrible that time must have been for her.

The family story of his death is that he and a young boy soldier had both been injured by a German shell - Thomas having lost a leg - and that when the medical orderlies got to them he insisted that the young boy be taken to safety first.  When the stretcher team went back there was nothing left of him - presumably he had been hit by another shell.  My Grandmother - who, I believe, was not a fanciful woman at all - said that at the time of his death she heard an enormous explosion whilst she was in the garden and that she ran back into the house fearing a gas leak.  She saw him lying on the settee with a leg missing and ran towards him.  Before she could reach him he disappeared.  How true either of these stories are I don't know as my Grandmother died when I was only three.  I'd like to believe they are both true.

Lest we forget.

Dreaded Lurgy

I've been hit by some horrible dreaded lurgy and have spent most of the weekend lying about in bed feeling very sorry for myself.  At least today I've managed to get dressed - but only really because we've had to get a television aerial repair man out.  The poor chap is lurking about the house at the moment as the weather is so hideous (high winds and torrential rain) that he's putting off the evil moment when he has to brave the elements up a ladder - rather him than me, I got so wet I had to change my trousers just going out to open the side gate for him. 

The aerial has been a pain in the bum ever since we've lived here in that it had a very long cable on the outisde of the house which would flap about in a southerly or westerly wind (the main wind direction), this led to some very fuzzy telly pictures and a fair amount of swearing on my part.  The trick has always been to go round the side of the house, gently feed the cable back through the wall and repeat as necessary depending on the wind strength.  Not ideal I know, but liveable with.  On Saturday evening the wind really picked up and P, not wanting to go out in the cold, decided to try yanking the cable through the wall (I'd told him this was not a good idea) and somehow completely lost the connection.  I'd taken myself off to bed before this and was not best pleased to find we now had no TV reception at all.  Cue a Sunday evening with P up in his study (presumably avoiding my bad mood), and me stuck with no TV and feeling like cr*p.  Oh yes, a good time was had by all!!

I Got Mail

I've received a couple of really lovely parcels in the past couple of days. 

First of all I got back from Euro Disney to find I'd won a giveaway from Claire (www.elfieandme.typepad.com).  The prize was a pack of her lovely 'Christmas Lanterns' Christmas cards - they are so pretty and much nicer than the usual commercial Christmas cards (and they're printed on recycled paper).  Check out her site - www.madeinpixieland.com for other cards, magnets, badges and soaps with a pixie / fairy theme.  Thank you so much Claire - the cards are lovely.

Then today I received a parcel of goodies from Michele at 'Cowboys and Custard' (www.infocowboysandcustard.blogspot.com), which includes four Christmas cards with removable badges, a very stylish 1920s print handbag mirror and a 'Fairy on the Christmas Tree' magnet.  Michele sent me this great selection because I'd sent her a vintage 'Test Cricket' game which had been languishing by the computer for months.  I'd picked it up in the summer thinking I could do something with the wooden pieces but in the end knew I'd never get round to it.  I know Michele makes the most gorgeous vintage box frames which are so evocative of childhood and bygone days and thought I'd offer to post the game to her.  Thank you Michele for the very generous parcel you sent me in return.

Michele is also organising the 'Vintage and Handmade Fair' on 22nd November at Rangeworthy Village Hall, nr. Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire.  I'd love to be able to attend but even if I was down in Bristol that weekend it wouldn't be possible to get there without a car.  I bet it will be a wonderful event.

A Bit of Knitted Nonsense

What to do when you've got some cream organic wool left over from knitting a hot water bottle cover? - Why, knit yourself a little Scottie dog of course.

The pattern was from a Jean Greenhowe booklet I picked up at the 'Coffee and Jumble' a couple of weeks ago.  Jean Greenhowe dolls are not really my thing and I only bought the booklets to sell them on ebay.  Flicking through I spotted this little Scottie and thought I'd give him a go.  I still wouldn't want to knit any of the larger dolls but this little dog was super-easy to knit and very quick.  The instructions were excellent and I was pleased with the result.

Souvenirs de France

Last time we went to Disneyland I somehow completely forgot that I was actually going to be in France so would be able to find 'Marie Claire Idees' really easily in any old newsagent.  This time I remembered and managed to find a copy very easily at the railway station at Disneyland.  This is the 'automne' edition (I missed the publication date of the Christmas edition by a couple of days - darn it!) and there are some tres tres chi projects in it.

A bird bag

Art deco style letters

An amazingly eye-catching sideboard

Having 'achieved' an ungraded French 'O' level (that took some doing even in 1976 - if I remember correctly I did very little apart from write my name on the answer sheet!!), most of the text is incomprehensible to me, but I can spend hours looking at the beautiful photos and getting lots of ideas and inspiration.

I also came back with a Chip'n'Dale tea towel (Torchon Tic et Tac according to the French label) from Disneyland and my sister bought me a lovely Tinkerbelle water glass to go on the beside table (sadly this was a b*gger to photograph in the gloomy half-light we've got in Essex today so you'll just have to imagine how sweet it is.)

Home Again, Home Again ....

A very busy and enjoyable few days have been spent celebrating Halloween at Euro Disney. 

In some ways it was all even more magical when it was dark as the lighting displays were fabulous.

So were the fireworks at midnight on the 31st.

And, of course, when you're only five the whole thing is magic from start to finish.

Hot Water Bottle Cover

I finished up the 'Cornishware' striped hot water bottle cover over the weekend, and I must say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

The organic Cornish wool was double knitting and I used two strands together on 5.5 mm needles to make a nice thick cover.  The fisherman's rib gives a bit of stretch to the cover and means it fits snugly and isn't likely to slip off.  The stripes give it some interest and as well as being a bit like 'Cornishware', it's also pretty close to the Bristol Rovers colours.  I'm no great fan of football but if I support any team it's got to be Rovers.

I'll be away for a few days from tomorrow - hope to be back with plenty of photos over the weekend.  Hope you all have a good week.

Cashback Sites

There was a very interesting article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph Money section about cashback websites.  The sites they mentioned were

www.quidco.com

www.greasypalm.co.uk

www.topcashback.co.uk

www.wepromiseto.co.uk

I've had a quick look at them all and think that the topcashback site is probably the one most useful for me but before I sign up to anything I wondered if anyone has had experience of using cashback sites.  Do they work?  Which sites would you recommend?  Is there anything to be careful of with these type of sites?  Any information would be very gladly received as I tend to do most of my Christmas shopping via the internet and if I can earn some cash back into the bargain that would be really helpful.

'Shopping' in my Wardrobe / Fridge

It was really nice yesterday evening to be able to go to my wardrobe and select a new shower gel from the lovely array I've picked up over the summer at car boot sales.  Should I go for the chocolatey-looking one from Boots, or the rather posh Chloe tube, or how about a large selection of different Body Shop fragrances?  In the end I chose one of the Body Shop White Musk bottles, as this is probably my all-time favourite.  I'm not someone who uses a lot of shower gel every time I shower so this little lot should easily see me through to next summer - with the hope that I can add to the collection at the upcoming Christmas Fayres.  I can't tell you how satisfying it was to have such a lovely choice and knowing that none of them cost me more than 50p.

By nature I'm not really much of a pack-rat, and in this particular house there isn't really that much room to stockpile things - although giant packs of toilet paper are stacked in some rather unusual places at the moment having been bought over the past few months when Somerfield always seemed to have one toilet paper or another on really good offer.  I do envy those bloggers who seem to have beautifully organised craft rooms with their thrifted fabric and yarn all neatly stacked away.  Or those who have large cellars in their houses (this seems to be an American thing in particular) who can stockpile non-perishable food stuffs down there, or any other useful bits and bobs they come across.

Having no freezer and a fridge the size of a cardboard box means there's very little space to stockpile perishable food stuffs (although we do have a fine collection of tinned and dry items in various cupboards and wardrobes around the house.)  Feeling particularly lazy at the moment and not wishing to make yet another journey to the High Street, I spent some considerable time yesterday evening (whilst watching Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall and his wonderful selection of fresh veggies) trying to decide exactly what I could cobble together for a few evening meals from the meagre bits in the fridge and on the shelves - whilst not subjecting us to the threat of scurvy!!  Everything I thought of seemed to be missing one vital fresh ingredient - I had bacon, parmesan and dried spaghetti but, oops, had used the last of the eggs to make a cake so couldn't do Spaghetti Carbonara.  Bacon and mushroom pasta bake - nope, no mushrooms.  Tuna and pasta salad - nope, no cherry tomatoes (or, indeed, tomatoes of any kind.)  Finally I came up with the idea of homemade pizza with a bacon and pineapple topping - not quite a Hawaiian pizza, but near enough.

I know there is quite a big bag of carrots in the fridge and some broccoli, and I've got plenty of potatoes so tonight's evening meal will be the above veggies with a tin of stewing steak.  Any left over veggies will go to make a weekend lunch soup. 

It took me a while to figure it all out, and what with that and the knitting I had on the go at the same time poor old HFW didn't really get much of a look in, but I think I'm sorted for the weekend food now, and it won't cost me an extra bean - nor any time schlepping to the High St and back!

The Last of the Apples

After a surprisingly frosty start this morning, and with gales forecast for the next couple of days, I thought it might be the time to pick in the remaining apples.  There are still some clinging to the topmost branches but those are just too high for me to get hold of, even balancing on the two-step mini-ladder thingy we've got and trying to get hold of them with the walking stick.  They'll make a tasty treat for the birds anyway.

One of the previous owner's of our house was apparently a very frugal Scottish gentleman, and it was he who planted the fruit trees.  It's only a very modest garden but we've got three plum trees, two apple trees, a cherry tree and apparently a fig tree (although I've never actually seen it fruit.)  I've never managed to avail myself of any of the cherries as last summer the starlings stripped the tree bare in a feeding frenzy before I could pick any in, and this year the tree just didn't fruit at all.  Last summer we couldn't keep time with all the plums we had and gave bag-loads away to the neighbours.  This year there were only enough plums for perhaps half a dozen puddings. 

The apples this year have been fairly steady for the past couple of months and I've very much enjoyed the purple ones - apparently a variety called Sceptre - which are sweet and juicy and just right for an eating apple.  The goldeny-green ones are much more sour and have only been eaten when stewed up with lots of sugar - I don't know what variety these are.

I do tend to curse them a bit when I'm trying to manouvre the lawn-mower around the myriad fruit trees or when the clean washing wraps itself around the many branches, but I love being able to step just outside my back door to pick in free fruit as and when I need it.