Eighteen

25 Sun Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

Tags

anxiety, daughter, education, eighteenth birthday, family, love, parent

Elinor had her eighteenth birthday on Wednesday. She celebrated by going to college, attending her Psychology class and then going into the city with her friends. They went to McDonald’s and had something to eat. Elinor would have preferred to have gone somewhere else as she doesn’t like McDonald’s’ food but her friends all do, so she went where they wished to go. She bought some fries and offered to get her friends’ food for them but they declined her offer and bought her an enormous badge with ’18’ on it and insisted that she wear it. They gave her their gifts and then they all went to their favourite bookshop and browsed. They also visited a department store and the boys found the toy department and fooled around with the toy swords and guns. I collected her from college at 2.00 pm and we went home. She opened her presents from us and had a few cards from relatives in the post. My mother had baked her a chocolate cake. My brother came to stay for the night as he had a meeting to go to in the area early next morning. We all ate cottage pie for our evening meal as it is Elinor’s favourite. She was so tired she fell asleep during the evening.

This may sound a rather tame way to celebrate an eighteenth birthday but for the past few years her birthday has been spent at home with just her parents and her sister for company. Until she started at college last September, she had had no contact with people of her own age for a long time because of her chronic anxiety. She was a very lonely and depressed young woman.

Her first term at college was a very difficult one; as you know if you have been reading this blog. However, by Christmas she had fought very hard to over-come her fears and had attended every day for six weeks and had caught up with most of her work. This term has been very successful so far. Apart from a couple of days absence because of a bad cold she has been into college every day and has started to attend her Maths classes again. She has taken a test in Psychology and got 85% and completed a paper in Maths and got 79%. Her English is good and continues to improve and she is working very hard at her Art. Her Art teacher is very impressed indeed and believes she has a good chance of doing very well in her exams. She hopes to go on to do a Graphic Art course at the college. She is beginning to get some self-confidence and is enjoying quite a lot of her college work. She likes the feeling she gets when she does well in class. She is also learning how to control her anxiety and is starting to ask for help at college when she feels anxious.

Richard and I are feeling more relaxed about her than we have in years.

It is hard for parents to realise that their own (probably selfish) hopes for their children may not be realistic hopes. We know that Elinor is very intelligent and capable and we dreamt of her taking many exams, doing well and going off to university like her sister, her cousins, her old school friends. If she hadn’t become so anxious she could have done these things. We have had to put up with comments from other parents who accuse us of spoiling our daughter – giving in to her and letting her stay at home. These other parents implied that had Elinor been theirs she wouldn’t have got away with it. She would have been forced to go to school. I have no idea whether their method would have worked. We did try at first to ‘make her’ go to school but when your child is so terrified she vomits at the thought of school, and panics and then starts to shut themselves away from all contact with others, it becomes impossible to continue. We have seen so many therapists and they have all said that the worst we could do is to try to force her to do anything. We were left feeling helpless, impotent and guilty. We were avoided by almost all the people we used to know through the school. We fought and fought to get her the best help and to find some way for her to continue with her education. Once she left school eighteen months ago everything became easier. Elinor started to relax for one thing and then she completed a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. A year ago we were contacted by the Education Department who asked if we would like some help. YES!

The key to being a happy parent is to rejoice in the wonder of being a parent. This child that you have created is a unique and wonderful creature, loved by God. It doesn’t matter whether they pass exams or not, are intelligent or not, are healthy or not – except you would rather they were healthy for their sakes. You love them. A parent has a duty to make sure that their child grows up knowing they are loved for who and what they are and not for what they can do. There are always opportunities these days to take exams, get qualifications, go to college at any time and at any age. We do not have to fit in with everyone else. Of course, a parent must teach their children the difference between right and wrong, respect for others and that life isn’t easy most of the time. But – the important thing is to help your child to grow and blossom and become the person they were intended to be and what they want to be. This isn’t spoiling them, this is the opposite of spoiling.

Plough Sunday

12 Mon Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

church service, Evening Prayers, Plough Sunday, Rumburgh

The Crib in Rumburgh Church. As we are still celebrating Epiphany the Crib shows the Three Kings or Wise Men visiting the Holy Family.

I seem to have spent most of the day in church today. I woke this morning to clear skies and when the sun rose everything looked beautiful and sparkling. There was still a strong wind blowing which made it feel much colder outside than it really was.

I had promised my mother that I’d take her to her church this morning, as the services at our church were both in the afternoon. I left home at just after 9.45 am, picked Mum up at 10.10 and got to Eye just after 10.30. There were a couple of places near the church where I could park which is the advantage of arriving a little early. The service went well but is always much longer than our one and by the time we left the skies were beginning to cloud over. I dropped Mum back at her house at about 12.30 and then went home for something to eat.

Richard and I went to the Plough Service at our church this afternoon. We set out in plenty of time for the 3.00 pm start but we discovered the road was blocked by a fallen tree. It wasn’t a large tree and most of it was dead but it was very heavy and Richard and I really struggled to get it to the side of the road. By the time we had got it half way to the side a few other cars had arrived and first a woman in the car behind us and then a man from a car two behind her and then a young man who had driven up from the opposite direction all got out to help clear the road. Richard, the woman and I had managed to get it almost to the side of the road by dragging it one way but the young man said he would be able to get it further off the road by taking it a different way. He was very strong and put the tree over his shoulder and with the other men’s help he got it right off the road.

The cover of the Plough Sunday service sheet

To quote from the service sheet –

‘The Blessing of the Plough is traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday after Epiphany, January 6th. Often the plough was feted and drawn through the streets to be blessed in church. This was thought to ensure food for the coming year. The following day, Plough Monday, was the first day that work in the fields recommenced after Christmas’.

The decorated plough in our church

A local family bring their plough into the church and decorate it with ribbons and rosettes.

A farmer or his representative says:

‘Reverend Sir, we come to ask for God’s blessing on the work of the farmers of our country, of which this plough is a sign and token’.

To which the Minister replies:

‘I welcome you in the name of the Creator God who made this earth and all life upon it’.

The short service that follows includes verses from Psalm 104 which is a lovely song of praise for all creation and is worth a read for the wonderful phrases like ‘…..You cause grass to grow for the cattle,/ and plants for man to cultivate,/ to bring forth food from the earth,/ and wine to gladden the human heart.’

‘…..You bring darkness, it becomes night,/ and all the beasts of the forest come creeping out.’

In the service we acknowledge our forgetfulness and our gratitude for God’s Gifts. The blessing of the plough follows and then ‘God Speed the Plough’ – some verses about ploughing.

‘God Speed the Plough,/ the plough and the ploughman,/ the farm and the farmer,/ God Speed the Plough.

God Speed the Plough,/ the beam and the mouldboard,/ the slade and the sidecap,/ the share and the coulters,/ God Speed the Plough.

God Speed the Plough,/ on hillside and in valley,/ on land which is rich and on land that is poor,/ in countries beyond the seas,/ and in our homeland,/ God Speed the Plough.

God Speed the Plough,/ in fair weather and foul,/ in rain and wind, in frost and sunshine,/God Speed the Plough.

We are then blessed and we sing the harvest hymn ‘ We Plough the Fields and Scatter the Good Seed on the Land’. Even though there were only eight of us in the church we all sang heartily and made a joyful noise. And the service was over.

The Rector, Richard and I tidied up and blew out the candles and then had a pleasant chat together for a while until it was time for the Rector to leave for home. He is still suffering from a bad cold and has to visit hospital very soon to be assessed for heart surgery. He will have some fairly unpleasant procedures to go through and we wish him very well.

Richard and I had put the heater on in the Ringing Chamber (where the bell-ringers ring) and after Richard had done some maintenance in the church and tidied up the candles we sat and read and talked and Richard drank some coffee he had brought with him in a flask and waited for the next service to start at 4.30 pm.

Maurice our Elder arrived to take Evening Prayers and three other people joined us for the service. Maurice always prepares his services so well; it is a pity more people don’t come to hear him.

An Appointment with the Dentist

11 Sun Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

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Brewery House, dentist, Halesworth, Hooker House, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Jackson Hooker

Before I begin this post I must apologise for the confusion about my last two posts, both of which I published on Friday. I have started looking back over my photos from last year and because I am not taking many pictures at present I thought I would write posts about last summer and autumn and use old photographs. In looking back over past posts I realised that I had started writing up my summer holiday but hadn’t finished, so I wrote two catch-up posts on Friday. I continued to use the series title I had started using last summer, but this meant the titles were virtually the same so some of you have read one post and some of you have read the other and very few of you have read both, probably thinking that I had posted the same one twice. I am also having trouble posting onto Facebook. Some of my posts get there and some don’t – heaven knows why.

Hooker House – situated right next to a busy roundabout in the middle of Halesworth.

Richard had a dental appointment on 2nd January. His dentist’s surgery is in Halesworth in Hooker House. Many people will think this a strange name for a house until you find out that it was named after two famous men who lived there. Sir William Jackson Hooker moved into the house in about 1809/1810 after his marriage and lived there for eleven years. His second son, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was born there but moved with his family to Glasgow when he was four years old.

The rear of Hooker House

William Jackson Hooker was born in Norwich on 6th July 1785 and went to Norwich School. He was encouraged in his interest in botany by James Smith, a Norwich doctor who also founded the Linnaean Society. He inherited in trust the Jackson estate in Kent when he was eleven years old. William studied estate management and then became a partner in Halesworth Brewery. He took a quarter share for £8000 and moved into Brewery House (as Hooker House was then called) so that he could be near to his work. The house had a large garden and a heated greenhouse in which William grew exotic orchids. He also devoted himself to the formation of his herbarium – his collection of dried plants.

The front door

In fact the house then was about twice the size it is now and the gardens stretched down to the river. Probably the town park is all that remains of the magnificent garden. He was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow in 1820 where his career really developed. He retained his partnership in Halesworth Brewery but sold the house to Patrick Stead, a maltster from Halesworth whose maltings were the largest in the country.

Sign on the wall of Hooker House. I’m sure you’ll understand why I didn’t call it a ‘plaque’

William was dubbed a Knight of Hanover in 1836 and then in 1841 he was made the first Director of Kew Gardens. He held this post until his death in 1865, enlarging and transforming the grounds into one of the world’s leading botanical gardens. He built the Temperate and Palm Houses.

Sign commemorating Sir Joseph Hooker

Sir Joseph’s education was more specialised than his father’s. Joseph travelled and worked as a surgeon and botanist on a voyage from Antarctica to the Himalayas. He sent home the first Rhododendron and Sarcococca Hookeriana (Sweet Christmas Box) was named after him. He was a great friend of Charles Darwin and encouraged and supported Darwin when he wrote ‘The Origin of Species’. Joseph’s work on the distribution of plants seems to be in support of Darwin’s theories. By the time his father died Sir Joseph Hooker was already Deputy Director of Kew Gardens and so succeeded him as Director.

Staircase inside the house.

When I first moved to Halesworth in 1988 when Alice was three years old and I was newly divorced form my first husband I used this dentist. I was very pleased to find that such eminent men had lived there and the unpleasant duty of going to the dentist was made more palatable by being able to look round the house. There are information displays on the walls in the hall.

Information board on the Hookers

Richard and I met and we found we attended the same dentist. As Alice got older she became unhappy with the dentist at Hooker House as he wasn’t very good at putting children at ease. I took her to a different dentist in the town but continued going to Hooker House myself and started taking Elinor as soon as her teeth came through. We both eventually left the dentist after an ‘incident’. When Elinor was about two years old she started to become very nervous about going to see doctors and dentists. During an examination Elinor became quite distressed and kicked the dentist! He was very good about it considering the discomfort he was in but I just couldn’t go back again!

Richard took these photographs on his phone.

Peak District Holiday 1st to 9th July. Day 6.

09 Fri Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Hen Cloud, rocks, The Roaches, Tittesworth Water, walking

Tittesworth Reservoir

After a very pleasant afternoon spent in Manchester with my mother-in-law, Richard and I returned to our caravan near Leek via the ‘Cat and Fiddle’ pass. This is a road that crosses the Peaks from Macclesfield to Buxton with the Cat and Fiddle pub at the summit at an altitude of 1690 feet. This has often been voted Britain’s most dangerous road as it has drystone walls along it and has many sharp and sometimes blind bends. It is a favourite road with motorcyclists. Richard drove carefully and we enjoyed glorious views across the Cheshire plains and over the moors. No photographs I’m afraid.

We had a quick meal and after a short rain shower passed over us we decided to go out for an evening walk. Our favourite short walk is up Hen Cloud and this is what we decided to do that evening.

The shower disappearing over the hill

The hill is a short drive from our camp-site – we can get there in less than ten minutes.

This is Hen Cloud seen from where we parked our car.

The most strenuous part of the walk is the steep ascent up the side of a field from the road which always leaves us a little breathless.

At the top of the field is a gate on the right leading to the path up Hen Cloud. If we look left we see The Roaches. The word ‘Roaches’ derives from the French word roches – rocks.

This is what The Roaches look like when we have ascended Hen Cloud a little.

A view of Tittesworth Reservoir (or Tittesworth Water as it is now called) from near the top of Hen Cloud

As you can see the path is fairly easy and goes through heather and cotton grass.

Tittesworth Water from the top of Hen Cloud. Why do some people feel it necessary to cut their names and messages into rocks and trees?

Looking through a gap in the rock we see the steep drop to the road below.

Another view of the Roaches. It has only taken us half an hour to get up here and we are old and infirm – well – nearly!

A different view from the top of Hen Cloud

And another!

Tittesworth Water again

These rocks are on the edge of the escarpment

On the other side of the line of trees below us was a camp full of teenage girls. You wouldn’t believe the noise of incessant chatter that floated up to us on the still evening air! Or perhaps you would, if you have anything to do with teenage girls!

A close-up of one of the rocks. This, I believe, is Gritstone which erodes easily. It is a coarse type of Sandstone.

Grasses and flowers living in the cracks in the rocks. A few lichens there too.

Strange rock shapes

And more strange rocks.

We are always a little sad to leave the top of Hen Cloud.

Peak District Holiday 1st to 9th July. Day 5 Part 2 and Day 6.

09 Fri Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 11 Comments

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All Saints church, Brindley's Mill, James Brindley, Leek Staffordshire, murals, Richard Norman Shaw, stained glass

During our day in Leek (mentioned in a former post), we also re-visited two favourite places.

This post is written with some help from the information booklets I obtained from All Saint’s Church, Leek and Brindley’s Mill, Leek.

ALL SAINTS CHURCH

All Saints Church, Leek is built of dark gritstone and some pink sandstone.

This church was designed by Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) and is considered the finest of all the sixteen he worked on. He mainly designed great houses and public buildings – 200 are attributed to him – including ‘Cragside’ in Northumberland and New Scotland Yard in London, the former headquarters of the Metropolitan Police. He followed A W N Pugin’s methods and principles which included honesty in the use of materials and the use of local building stone wherever possible. He also worked for some years as assistant to George Edmund Street and many of Street’s principles can be seen in Shaw’s churches – very low chancel screens without superstructure and the altar visible from all parts of the building.

The High Altar. The beautiful painted Reredos shows Christ’s Crucifixion and the Great East Window behind, designed by the artist Edward Burne-Jones, is a ‘Jesse’ window and shows the ancestry of Christ.

This was the third time we had visited this church and each time we have been there we have been welcomed and shown wonderful hospitality by the parishioners who open their church to visitors twice a week, provide coffee, tea and biscuits and lots of information and chat.

The stained glass windows are sumptuously coloured.

Miriam, Esther and Ruth by J E Platt

Faith, Hope and Charity by E Burne-Jones

St Stephen, St Catherine and St Alban by G Horsley

St Chad of Lichfield, King Alfred of Wessex and St Werburgh of Chester by J E Platt

St Augustine of Hippo, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Gregory by Morris and Co

King David, King Solomon, Hezekiah and Josiah by Morris and Co

Deborah, Huldar and Judith by Morris and Co

East Window – Ancestry of Christ by E Burne-Jones

The West Window has no stained glass and shows the beautiful tracery to good effect

The pulpit is decorated beautifully with carving and pierced woodwork. It also has a tester or sounding board above it which helped with acoustics before the use of microphones.

Part of the painted ceiling in the chancel.

The highly decorated Lady Chapel. The wall painting shows the Annunciation, the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary when she is told she has been chosen to be the Mother of Christ.

Another painting in the Lady Chapel and on the south wall is of St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds. Unfortunately the photographs I took were not good enough as the light levels were poor.

: Wall painting

: Wall painting

032One of stations of the cross (640x480)

One of the fourteen Stations of the Cross carved in 1991 by a local craftsman, John Owen.

A framed embroidery of an angel – a late example of the work of a member of the Leek School of Embroidery.

The font is made from green marble and the floral design on the west wall behind it is believed to be by William Morris.

This painting had only just been restored and replaced in the church the day we visited.

BRINDLEY’S MILL

Our next port of call was to Brindley’s Mill. As it is on a busy road I was unable to take a photograph of the outside of the mill so I have found a picture of it on-line – thanks to the Peak District On-line site.

I also found a photograph of what it looked like before successive roadworks raised the road level and caused the demolition of part of the building in 1948. This photograph comes from the Staffordshire Past Track site.

James Brindley was born in 1716, the eldest of the seven children of a Derbyshire small farmer. Brindley had very little schooling as he was kept very busy on the farm. The family moved to Leek when he was ten and at the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to a millwright near Macclesfield in Cheshire. He had a wonderful memory and stored up all sorts of useful information that he gleaned on his trips with journeymen to a variety of mills in the area. After two years his grasp of mechanical detail was remarked on by a mill manager and when the millwright to whom he was apprenticed failed to produce machinery for a new paper mill, Brindley, on his own initiative, visited the mill fifty miles away to see what was required. He was subsequently put in charge of the work which was completed satisfactorily. He thereafter looked after the business until the millwright’s death. Brindley set up his own millwright’s business in 1742 at the age of 26. He opened up another workshop in the Potteries where, after working with master potters and colliery owners he became known as ‘The Schemer’. His mill work continued including water mills for corn, flint and textiles, all requiring different internal machinery. Where no water was available he used ‘fire engines’ as early steam pumps were known. He patented improvements to existing machines. He replaced water by wind in Burslem for grinding flint for the Wedgewoods.

Brindley built the cornmill in Leek in 1752 on a site where a mill had stood since Domesday, on the River Churnet.

The River Churnet seen from the mill

In constructing this mill he showed a variety of skills – a millwright’s knowledge of mechanics and hydraulics was accompanied by the ability to create a stylish building using new weight-bearing techniques. He also exhibited civil engineering skills when constructing the weir by compacting clay, as he did later when forming the beds of the canals he made. His canals transformed the way goods were transported across England and he became very famous. Because of his lifestyle – constant travelling, overwork and also the onset of diabetes – he died at the early age of 56.

The working waterwheel

Four photos of the tentering gear (three sets of different vintages are bolted to the ceiling). They adjust the gaps between the millstones on the floor above to control the fineness of the flour.

At the rear of the photo is the pit wheel which is connected to the waterwheel outside by the axle-tree. The main shaft is made of oak and is 18″ in diameter. It is supported by a brass footstep bearing which is bolted to the floor. Around the base of the main shaft is the wallower – a gear which is driven by the pit wheel. At the front of the photo is the wooden pipe which conveys the meal from the millstones above. The meal is then sieved.

This is a photo of the next floor. Grain is poured into the wooden hopper from the floor above. The new hopper here is a quarter scale replacement to make demonstrations easier. Below the hopper is a tray (the shoe). One of the arms attached to the shoe is held against the rotating four-sided shaft by a rope attached by a springy bar of willow. As the shaft turns its four edges create a shuddering movement in the shoe which allows the grain to be jerked out at a regular pace into the eye of the top stone.

Mill stones

If the stone became worn or it ground unevenly it could be repaired by being weighted on one side. This one has been weighted by an old flat iron.

A work bench with tools used in the mill

The Garner floor or top floor where the grain is stored prior to milling. The sacks are conveyed up to this floor with a sack hoist

Brindley’s level and notebook

This is a theodolite level – a spirit level above a telescope above a compass – and was the most advanced piece of technology which he used in planning his canals.

This is one of four of Brindley’s notebooks in existence and are mainly aids to his memory – time taken to ride to distant places, where he found suitable timber, clothes he bought, how much he was owed etc.

The following day, which was Sunday, we attended church at All Saints and had coffee afterwards in their large church room in the undercroft. Such friendly people!

We then travelled to Manchester and spent some time visiting my mother-in-law in her house. Probably the last time I will see the house, though I didn’t realise it then.

Two Short Walks

03 Sat Jan 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, walking

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Bridge Street Bungay, Bungay, Dunwich, Dunwich beach, walking

After three days of glorious blue sky and sunshine, the sun not powerful enough to melt the thick frost and ice in shady places, we woke yesterday morning, the first of the new year, to gloom and cloud and increasing wind. Richard and I had hoped to go to Minsmere with Elinor, walk round the bird reserve and have lunch in the café. However, after her late night seeing in the new year Elinor didn’t get up til midday by which time it was too late to get there for lunch. We decided we would try to get to Minsmere at the weekend and drove to Dunwich and had a short walk there instead.

Rough sea at Dunwich beach

No matter what the weather, there are always at least two tents belonging to sea fishermen on this beach. I only had my phone with me so these photos aren’t too good.

We found it difficult walking on the beach because of the strong, cold wind and Elinor who hasn’t been very well recently decided to return to the warmth of the car.

The coast here is being eroded away very quickly and there are frequent land-slips.

I am glad I don’t live in the house whose chimneys you can see at the top of the picture.

Dunwich, in the 13th century was a port city equal in size to London (as it was then). It had six churches, two monasteries and its own mint. In 1286 a storm washed away many houses into the sea and this was followed by three further storm surges in quick succession until almost all of Dunwich was lost to the sea with only a tiny fragment of the city remaining. There is a legend that the church bells can still be heard tolling beneath the waves on quiet days. The port and river mouth became silted up and the trade went away. The storm surge we had in December 2013 caused a lot of damage all along this coast and many people are still in danger of losing their homes.

Archaeologists have been working in recent years to map the sea floor across the entire area of the town. A lot of ruins have been discovered and stones with lime mortar attached dating back to the early medieval times. This is the largest medieval underwater site in Europe.

The huts contain winching gear to help pull the boats back up the beach.

The ‘must-have’ gear of a fisherman

About ten days before Christmas I went shopping in Bungay and, as it was a nice day and I wasn’t in a hurry I decided to walk down Bridge Street to the river and see how high the water was.

The colourful houses in Bridge Street.

Looking back up the street towards the Buttercross in the Market Place

More colourful houses

And yet more!

The white heap is two Mute Swans. I didn’t have my camera with the zoom lens and this is the best I could do.

The River Waveney seen from the bridge.

Looking at the River Waveney from the other side of the bridge.

If you would like to hear more about Bridge Street please click here to listen to local historians and residents talk about the area. Turn up the volume on your phone/computer. In the recording you will hear about Nursey’s the sheepskin shop. Unfortunately, since this recording was made the shop has had to close as they couldn’t find a buyer.

I hope you enjoy listening to this audio tour.

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Boxing Day Walk

30 Tue Dec 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, trees, walking

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

fields, oak trees, walking, winter

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a display of Easter chocolate at the supermarket.

Despite the cold and cloud Richard and I had a very pleasant walk on Boxing Day. We had no wish to drive anywhere so we had our usual amble across the fields.

One of next-door’s chickens searching for grubs in the leaf litter of the road-side

Richard walking along the edge of a field of wheat or barley.

I love the look of leafless trees. These are English Oaks

Millet

Many of you will remember the walk I had along this path in the summer when I found this plant in flower and didn’t recognise it as millet. I have Allen of nhgardensolutions to thank for the identification and also Rachel from coulddoworse.me for explaining links to me (though because of my ineptitude and through no fault of Rachel’s, I have still had a lot of difficulty and a lot of help from family in getting them to work!). Allen’s posts are full of the small but beautiful things he sees on his trails in New Hampshire and he has taught me to slow down even further and look yet more closely at the natural world around me. Rachel’s posts are packed with anecdotes about her life in London, her lovely family and the walks she takes through the city streets and parks. She cooks and crochets and reads and gardens and is so inspiring!

This is what the millet looked like in the summer

…and these two photos show what it looked like in October when Richard, Elinor and I went for a walk after Richard had got home from work. One of the last evening walks we took before the clocks went back. We thought it would be harvested for seed but from the look of the field on Boxing Day it had just been left to dry and die. A puzzle.

We also saw a few sugar beet plants in amongst the dead grass

and holes that we weren’t able to see when the leaves were on the trees.

A few tough Mayweed flowers that are struggling on even through a few frosts

The Beck was low but showed signs of when it had been very high a short time ago. It rose again on Boxing Day night and flooded the road at the Washes for a short while.

This little stream looks so much nicer in the spring and summer.

We saw lichen on branches…

…and a few rosehips.

English Oak

These pictures are of my favourite ancient oak tree seen over the hedge from the lane. I went into the field it stands in and took a photo of the whole tree as well.

These are three more oaks we saw on our walk.

The lane with Richard in the distance showing how far I had lagged behind him

A wet and poorly drained field at the top of the lane. It looks like some heavy vehicle sunk into the soil here.

Looking back in the direction we had come

Looking towards Flixton where we had been to church on Christmas Eve. There is a wood there on a slight rise in the land.

We saw these new green leaves – the plants have become very confused as the temperature swings from freezing to 10 degrees C or more and then back down to freezing again.

The Washes don’t often dry out in the winter.

That photograph reminded me of one I took when we last walked this way in October.

The sun had set but there was such beautiful silver light in the sky and this was reflected in the shallow puddles on the road

A typical early winter scene. The field is full of dead thistles

These are Common Alder cones, the female catkins. I tried very hard to photograph the male catkins but I couldn’t get the camera to focus on them.

Christmas

30 Tue Dec 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, cooking, Rural Diary

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Tree, decorations, food, tradition

My mother’s Kissing Ring. My mother’s family had no tradition of having a Christmas tree. They had a kissing ring instead. This one has a sprig of mistletoe for kissing under.

We have had a very pleasant and quiet Christmas so far. Christmas Day itself began at Midnight Mass held this year in St. Mary’s church in Flixton. The Rector handed us all a slice of Christmas cake as we left and when we got home we had some hot mulled wine and a mince pie before going to bed. I was a little late in going to bed as I still had a few presents to wrap which I did after quickly washing the kitchen floor. Yes, I know what you are thinking, but it needed doing and that was the only chance I had to do it!

In the morning we gathered together in the living room where the presents had been put under the Christmas tree and drank a cup of tea while we exchanged our gifts. In recent years our breakfast has been Italian pannetone which is luxurious but light.

For lunch this year instead of turkey we had rib of beef and it was gorgeous! I had a lot of help from Alice who peeled and chopped all the vegetables for me and she also made a lovely lemon sorbet for a starter. We had roast and mashed potatoes, mashed swede, roast parsnips with honey, carrots and brussels sprouts. I had another attempt at making Yorkshire puddings and my usual failure. Why I can’t make them I don’t know but this time they at least were light and in one piece but they were flat like pancakes! I made some gravy which was rich and good and also some stuffing. Why stuffing when we had no bird to stuff? Because Elinor my youngest daughter loves it and it wouldn’t be Christmas for her without sage and onion stuffing.

Richard went to collect my mother who always joins us for Christmas lunch and she brought with her the Christmas Pudding. She has always made her own puddings and they are very good indeed. She makes them in October and they are left to mature until Christmas when they are steamed for two hours. She brings our pudding hot from the steamer and well wrapped and insulated. I make thick custard to go with it and provide cream as well.

The afternoon is spent quietly together, talking and drinking tea, coffee, wine or spirits and sleeping. Richard spent quite a lot of time washing up and loading and re-loading the dish-washer – a seemingly thankless task but a necessary one and I am very grateful to him for doing it.

Mum had invited us to her house for a buffet evening meal the next day, Boxing Day, so Richard and I decided that it might be a good idea if we went for a walk during the afternoon. Neither of the girls wanted to come with us.

We set off for Mum’s house just before 6.00 pm and it was just starting to rain as we got there. She had provided a sumptuous spread for us and had worked very hard. A gammon with orange, chicken pieces coated with sesame seeds, mixed roast vegetables, sausage rolls and a selection of crisps and savoury biscuits. She had also made an apfel strudel and a yule log with chocolate and chestnut filling. The rain was pouring down when we left and continued all night and into the following morning. Many of the roads and fields were flooded but we didn’t have the snow that fell just to the north of us.

Making Mince Pies

21 Sun Dec 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in cooking, Rural Diary

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Christmas, Christmas cooking, Mince pies, mincemeat, sweet shortcrust pastry, traditional British food

We had our Carol Service at Rumburgh church on Saturday and I made two dozen mince pies to take with me as part of the after-service refreshments.

Sweet shortcrust pastry ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry is used for French fruit flans, tarts, little fancy cakes – and mince pies! The following recipe makes about twelve mince pies. I use the same method when making little individual apple pies which are lovely for buffets, packed lunches and picnics.

225 g / 8 oz plain flour

pinch of salt

50 g / 2 oz butter

50 g / 2 oz lard or vegetable shortening

25 g / 1 oz caster sugar

1 egg yolk

a little water

This makes 225 g / 8 oz pastry

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl

Cut the fat into the flour

Rub in to a breadcrumb consistency

As soon as I think that I have finished rubbing in the fat I then tell myself to continue for another minute. I always find a piece of fat I had missed.

Add the sugar and mix together

: Add about two tablespoons of water to an egg yolk

: and beat them together

Add the egg and water to the flour, fat and sugar

Mix them together

I always just use my hands, never a spoon, when making pastry. I find it mixes together quickly and easily and I can feel when it is of the right consistency rather than just trusting to my eyes. I have never used a blender to make pastry either.

Keep mixing the ingredients together, adding a very little more water if necessary.

Sometimes just dampening my fingers adds enough water to make the pastry smooth and elastic. Too much water makes the pastry slimy and horrid and will never be anything other than tough to eat.

Knead lightly until smooth but don’t overwork it or it will lose its lightness.

The finished pastry – which needs to be rested in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before being rolled out. I wrap it in cling-film.

Mince pie ingredients

Flour your work surface or pastry board and start to roll the pastry out carefully.

As the pastry is very short (crumbly – difficult to keep together) it requires careful handling or it will split and fall apart. If you haven’t added enough water when mixing it will fall apart very readily. This problem can easily be overcome by adding a sprinkle more water and re-kneading the dough.

Roll the pastry out very thinly, 2.5 mm / one eighth of an inch thick

Cut out 12 rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. I use a 7.5 cm / 3″ one.

017Circles of pastry in patty pans (640x480)

Line a pastry pan with the pastry rounds and prick the bottom of each pie with a fork to help the pastry cook through

Fill each pie with a teaspoon of mincemeat

I have never made my own mincemeat but have been meaning to for years! Bought mincemeat is very variable, some very poor and more like runny jam than proper mincemeat. I have found one that is very good and I use it every year. Some bought mincemeats can be improved by a little lemon juice or a small drop of brandy or rum.

Mincemeat is made from shredded suet (beef or vegetable), grated or finely chopped apple, mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins and currants), brown sugar, chopped blanched almonds, chopped candied orange and lemon peel, finely grated rind and juice of a large lemon, mixed spice, cinnamon, grated nutmeg and some brandy, whisky or rum. Hundreds of years ago it did contain meat as well, hence the name of mincemeat, but no longer. If vegetable suet is used then the mince pies can be eaten by vegetarians.

Cut out 12 smaller rounds of pastry with a plain or fluted cutter. I use a 6 cm / 2.5″ cutter. If you don’t have enough pastry to cut out all the rounds you need, gather all the trimmings together, knead them with a little water and roll out again.

Dampen the edge of the pie with a little water and cover the filling in each tart with the smaller round of pastry, pressing down firmly so the lids are secure. Cut a small hole or cross in the centre of each lid to allow steam to escape.

Place the pies in their pastry pan onto a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees C / 425 degrees F / Gas Mark 7 for 12 to 15 minutes or until well risen and golden.

Baked pies.

More baked pies!

A finished pie

Leave to cool in the pastry pan for a few minutes and then place on a rack to finish cooling.

If you so wish you can dust the top with a little icing sugar.

Mince pies can be eaten hot straight from the oven or cold, on their own or with custard or cream and even as an accompaniment to Christmas pudding if you are so minded. They keep for days and days in a sealed container and can be re-heated. I love them!

A Gentle Day

14 Sun Dec 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Christmas preparations, Christmas Tree, Christmas Wreath, crinkle-crankle wall, Halesworth, Rectory Lane

A beautiful sunrise on Tuesday of this week.

Term has ended and E managed to attend every day for six weeks! We are so pleased with her and she is very proud of herself too. She has found a really nice group of friends and is starting to relax and enjoy life. She is on track with two out of the four subjects she is studying and just needs to do a little extra work to catch-up in Art. The one subject that needs a lot of work is her Maths but I am hoping that R and I can persuade her to get on with that during the Christmas break. She is going into college next Tuesday for an Art catch-up day which will be a great help.

I have got most of my present-buying done but I haven’t started on the card-writing yet. I must clean the house properly as it has only had a lick and a promise lately and then we can put the decorations up. I must also start baking and freezing food in advance to save time later.

R has one more week at work and then has two weeks annual leave. He had a hospital appointment during the week for a bone-density scan in case he has started to get osteoporosis. This is part of the investigation he has to under-go because of the tumour on his pituitary gland. He has two separate hospital appointments next week, one to see if his adrenal gland is working properly and the other at the eye clinic. We are not sure if the eye clinic appointment is to do with his pituitary problem (the gland is very close to the optic nerve) or whether it is a routine check-up. He has keratoconus (conical corneas) and has to wear special contact lenses.

My eldest daughter Alice, will be coming home on Christmas Eve and will stay until New Year’s Eve. My sister is visiting on Monday and I hope to be seeing my brother sometime soon too. Mum seems to be fine at the moment. I took her Christmas shopping in Norwich on Tuesday and then we did her usual grocery shopping on Wednesday. I will take her to church tomorrow. She hasn’t been for weeks, sadly – I haven’t been able to take her as I’ve had other duties and there is no-one else around it seems, who could do it either. This is very unfortunate especially as she takes great comfort from her church attendance. Mum and Dad, when he was alive, give and gave so much of their time and skill to that church that I am surprised that she can be forgotten so easily. Mum got a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a lady at the church asking if Mum could provide a cake for the Christmas Bazaar. Mum said she was happy to but had no means of getting the cake to the church. She was told that that would be no problem. Someone would come and collect it and as there was a funeral of an old friend of my father’s on the same day as the bazaar, Mum would get a lift to that as well. Mum made two cakes and phoned and left a message to say she had made them. She phoned on the day of the bazaar and left another message. No-one came and no-one has been in touch to apologise. She is 84 and has very little money to spare and very little energy to spare either. I am hoping that she will get an apology tomorrow.

I have become very tired because of the extra driving I have had to do lately. I have driven over 11,000 miles since the beginning of September, spending on average 4 hours a day in the car. The days I take Mum out as well as doing the double journey to Norwich and back I spend nearer to 5.5 hours in the car. I have bought a lot of petrol, filling the tank every five days. Fortunately the price of petrol has gone down recently – at the moment it is 118.9 pence per litre here. I am still trying to do my household chores but I have had to give up my gardening. I haven’t even had time to feed the birds for weeks and weeks. Tiredness has made me grumpy, prone to upset stomachs, prone to tears and a ‘Scrooginess’ comes over me when I have to think about Christmas.

Humbug!

Today, however, has been such a pleasant one. We woke to another clear and frosty morning. R and I enjoyed a relaxed breakfast and then I drove us to Bungay so that we could collect the Christmas wreath I had ordered a week or so ago. We haven’t been out together for some while so this walk through the town made a nice change. R bought a newspaper and we returned home.

Our Christmas Wreath

E had a hair appointment to go to in Halesworth at 1.00 pm so this time R drove us. We walked with her to the hairdressers and then went to buy some dried ingredients for R’s soup-making from a delicatessen in the Thoroughfare. In most English towns the main street is known as the High Street but in Suffolk many towns call their main street the ‘thoroughfare’. We called in at a café and had coffee and then, as there was still about a quarter of an hour until E would be finished we walked up Rectory Lane back to the Market Place. This is a narrow alleyway that runs behind the Thoroughfare from the north of the town to the south.

The lane goes alongside the Town River, a tributary of the River Blyth.

A few weeks ago when we had nearly two days of heavy rain, this little river was very close to breaking its banks and flooding the town.

A view down the river from the bridge.

The crinkle-crankle wall. There are twice as many crinkle-crankle walls in Suffolk than in the whole of the rest of the country

A small door in the wall. It is only about 5′ tall.

The end of Rectory Lane just before it emerges into Chediston Street.

R walking up Chediston Street

Halesworth is quite a busy market town but as you can see, even on a Saturday afternoon less than two weeks before Christmas some peace and quiet can be had.

We returned to our car and almost immediately E joined us looking lovely with her neatly cut and straightened hair. We drove to Holton, a village on the outskirts of Halesworth where we usually buy our Christmas tree at a farm. We quickly found a suitable one and took it home with us.

Our well-wrapped Christmas tree.

R will trim a little off the base of the trunk and a couple of the lower branches and then fit it into the tree stand after we have soaked it for a few days. We will bring it into the house in a few days time and then decorate it. This is the first year that Alice hasn’t been here to help us.