February Books

Photo to follow!

In February, I read 9 books. I'm very behind on the reviews but there we are!


7.  Thomas- The Deptford Histories- Robin Jarvis
I mentioned when reading Robin Jarvis' other Deptford books, that he doesn't hold back on the deaths despite these being children's books. This is the final book in the Deptford Histories and is the back story to Thomas Triton, the old sailor mouse who helps the Deptford Mice in their defeat of Jupiter!  This story similarly doesn't hold back on the deaths and is the secret behind why Thomas Triton is so sad and finds it hard to move on from his past. It was particularly exciting and involves travel to far off lands, unlike the other Deptford stories. I was DELIGHTED to find the end not quite so tragic (in some ways) as the other books in this series therefore, I rate it higher than those.
8.  The Giggler Treatment -  Roddy Doyle
I picked up an omnibus of three Rover adventures books in a charity shop for school and read them to vet them for which year group they would appeal to. I must say, they are incredibly silly but will really appeal to those with Poo humour or those who love seeing grownups get their come-uppance.   Indeed, the whole book is basically about those two things!  Silly but mildly entertaining. Oh, and a main character in these books is a clever dog called Rover who is secretly a millionaire because he sells his poo.
9.   The Meanwhile adventures- Roddy Doyle
Every Chapter begins with "Meanwhile..." meaning the chronology of this story is a little convoluted but again, another silly and funny book to read in the Rover series- it involves Parents who like to break world records, parents who get stuck in prison and children who want to save grownups. Oh and more Rover.

10.  Rover saves Christmas - Roddy Doyle
More Rover, more silliness, this time involving Rover's ability to know ALL the shortcuts in the world.  Rover and the children help deliver presents in this book! 

11. The Story of the Holocaust - Clive A. Lawton.
My little sister bought this book in the amazing Treasure Chest books in Felixstowe and I found it a really moving and informative read. I felt like I knew a lot more about the Holocaust, the backdrop and artefacts.  I think this would be a very useful book for year 6 history...which is what she bought it for!

12.  The Last Chance Hotel - Nicki Thornton.
I bought this book for my sister for Christmas and she read it at half term so I read it as soon as she'd finished! It is all about a boy Seth Seppi who is the kitchen boy at the Last Chance hotel in the middle of a forest. He is downtrodden by the nasty Bunns family.  Then one day, a group of strange people, who turn out to be magicians, turn up for some mysterious but special event.  Seth is blackmailed into making the desserts by the nasty daughter of the Bunns who has supposedly been away at Chef's school.  Alas, Dr Thallonius, the most important of the guests is found dead in a locked room, and because of Seth's dessert involvement, he becomes chief suspect.  Throughout the rest of the book, Seth must try to prove his innocence together with the help of a talking cat and some other dubious guests by trying to find out who the murderer was.  This book was so much more than I thought it would be and combines my love of a whodunnit with a fantasy world!  Seth was a great character and one with history (hopefully to be revealed more in book 2 and beyond?) and the whole unfolding of the plot is very clever with an unexpected ending! I highly recommend this one!

13.  Death in the Spotlight (A Murder most unladylike book) - Robin Stevens
I also bought this book for my little sister so I took advantage of reading it when I was staying with them. This is book 7 in the Murder Most Unladylike series. In this book, Daisy and Hazel are staying in London with Daisy's Uncle Felix but he has a secret mission he must go off on and therefore he needs a way to keep Daisy and Hazel out of trouble and away from murders.  So he manages to get them into the cast of Romeo and Juliet at the theatre as sickness as led to a lack of extras. Unfortunately for Uncle Felix, but fortunately enough for the girls, tensions are running rife in the theatre company and a murder is committed.  They must work to find out who the murderer is.
I LOVE this series and this one was a corker with LOTS of unexpected twists in more aspects of the story than just who the murderer is!  Expect LOTS of revelations in this book!

15.  The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar and six others - Roald Dahl
I read this book as a child and loved it. It's weird because lots of people have not heard of it!  Perhaps these stories are a bit more grownup than his children's books but I really liked them and still did upon this rereading some 28 years later!  Expect the unexpected-strange transformations and skills, disappearances and the such like!

16.  Coming to England- Floella Benjamin
This was one of 12 books I picked up in the second hand book shop including the sequel to this one! This is a biographical account of  the TV presenter,  Floella Benjamin, who was a huge part of my childhood and I have a lot of respect for this her, therefore I was really intrigued to read about her childhood and history. In this book, we learn of Floella's childhood in Trinidad in the 60's and how she came to England.  Her narration certainly sounds very nostalgic and fond of her time in Trinidad  (perhaps rose-tinted?) and I loved hearing about what Trinidad was like and how kind and hard-working her Mother was. I had no idea about the West Indies or that it was a British colony originally.  I found it difficult to hear about what it was like to be an immigrant from the West Indies in the 60's and 70's and I found myself seething with the injustice of how people were treated. I am very glad things have improved even though racist sentiments still survive in many quarters against people of colour. Very glad to have read another Non-fiction book this year already!


Have you read any of these?  Would you like to?

x

St Peter's-on-the-Wall, Bradwell

On Sunday, CBC and I decided to go for a drive to find somewhere lovely to walk.  We headed to North Fambridge for a walk round an Essex Wildlife Nature reserve and then decided to drive to Bradwell-on-Sea where we went to visit St Peter's on the Wall.

From the car-park, we walked along this very straight path which was originally a road built by the Romans.

St Peter's Chapel was built by St Cedd in 654AD using stones from a previous Roman fort and indeed, it was actually built on the foundations of the main gateway into that fort.  The name of this fort was Othona.

 Othona was one of of numerous Saxon shore forts built in the South-East to maintain a defence against Saxon pirates.  Othona was abandoned after 410Ad which is when the Romans withdrew from the area.  It lay untouched for centuries until excavations of the site in the last century.

St Cedd, who was living with the monastic community in Lindisfarne in Northumberland sailed down the coast from there to establish a Christian community- this happened very rapidly due to his strong missionary abilities. He was actually made Bishop of the East Saxons.  St Peter's was not the only monastic community in Essex though.  There were others established in Bradwell, Tillbury, Prittelwell, Mersea and Upminster.

 In addition to this chapel, there would have been a collection of wattle daub dwelling in addition to a hospital, guest house, school room, refectory and studio for artwork such as illuminating the Gospels in addition to farm buildings for a self-sufficient community.  The site would be occupied by monks, ordained or not as well as lay men and women.

Upon opening the door, I was struck by the simple beauty of the chapel.

There were very few adornments but what there were were beautiful.

 This beautiful woven wall-hanging in sea-hues was most striking.

 This cross of St Cedd is the focal point of the altar.

You see a simple altar below, a candle-holder on the walls, an S on the brickwork outside and one of many Kentish flints in the walls.

As well as the beautiful wooden ceiling, there are simple benches for worshippers in the Summer months.

 What a tranquil and holy place it was!

You may notice the wind turbines in the background of this picture and in a previous one. I was struck by the juxtaposition of ancient and modern.

Nowadays, nearby, just to the right of this chapel is the modern Othona community. It is a place where people live their simple Christian faith and the place is a retreat for those who wish to share in this simple community.  You can find more information at www.othona-bradwell.org.uk

This was a beautiful place to visit and I am most keen to do the 7mile round walk from here encompassing all the sites of Bradwell.

xx 

The grieving process of ending a book

I don't know about you but when I finish reading a book, particularly one I've loved, a fantasy land of some sort, I enter some sort of grieving process. I don't want to move straight on to another book- I want to remain with those characters in their world a while longer.  It feels callous to just move on to another book straight away and I find it hard to open the first page of a new book.

 It's always a delight to discover there are sequels to a series but do you guzzle them all in one go or do you wait and savour the sense of knowing that you get to return to that world for a while longer and it is still waiting whilst you haven't opened that new book?

I feel like that about the Worlds of Chrestomanci books. I adored them so much and I have only got one book left to read in the series- Mixed Magics, a set of short stories. Do I read it or do I wait?  I don't want to say goodbye to Chrestomanci but I long to find out more.  Similarly, having just finished "The train to Impossible Places", I am delighted to know a sequel is coming soon- well in October.
What's your attitude to this?  Read all at once or savour and wait?
x

Florals for Spring?

Greetings to you fair traveller!

Rest yourself a while on ye olde virtuale sofa with ye olde virtuale cuppe of tea.

Above is my outfit from Sunday!  It was such an ebulliently sunny day that I donned my finest florals an all the bright colours.  

This Cath Kidston dress was a serendipitous charity shop purchase around 4 years ago now I suspect and I still love it! To pick out the colour of the pink flowers, I donned my pink tights and then an old Monsoon cardigan which comprises of pink and navy stripes with a bow!

If you cast your eyes below, you will see I wore the handmade button brooch which came on a handmade handbag CBC bought for me around 8 years ago and the pretty Cross necklace he bought for me for Christmas which was handmade by a friend of his who used to be a Silversmith before she became a technology teacher but has now retired!

Brogues to finish the look. 

A few random anecdotes down here for want of any particular post for them:

• Feeling quite pleased at my innovation.  So, my Pied Piper of Hamelin performance is next week and I have been puzzling over the mayor's costume.  I've ended up buying a red velvety cloak with fake ermine edges which looks more King than Mayor but I didn't find anything in the charity shop that was suitable.  BUT for the mayoral chain, I bought a metre of some gold embroidered brocade trim which consists of massive circles and from a distance, looks very much like a big mayoral chain!
• Yay, just put in my first order for Milk and More who deliver in our area so now my Organic milk can come in a glass bottle and not plastic! Yes, it is a bit more expensive but it is worth it for the plastic avoidance and actually avoiding the hassle of going to buy it from the shops. Plus, it seems I will get a free glass bottle of juice with my first order! Hurrah!
• The toilet roll situation at home is a bit desperate as I have wanted to purchase toilet roll without plastic. I have gone with Ecoleaf as the packaging is compostable and the paper is recycled. I have always bought recycled toilet tissue but wanted to try a non-plastic covered one. Hoping it arrives before we run out completely!
• This week, year 6 have been learning a version of Beethoven's 5th symphony.  After having broken down Beethoven's musical materials for them to understand, at the end of the lesson, I played them the piece again.  J's reaction (boy in year 6) to this was, "When was this piece written?". I responded, er- 1800 something. His response, "But it is SO cool- it's amazing to think something so old is such a great piece!". My response, "That's why he is considered a great composer!" Anyone who says you have to play pop and rock to children and play them what they already understand is wrong!
• The bloodtest came back normal. I've got an ultrasound scan scheduled to find out what is going on but at least the blood test was ok.
• The homeless man who asked me to buy him a multipack of Snickers in town today did me a favour as I got lots of lovely reduced vegetables in the COOP when I went in including a Thai Green veg kit.  I would have been scratching my head for what to make for dinner without him!
• I have my worst classes tomorrow- please pray! I loathe Wednesdays!
• I'm loving my book- The train to Impossible Places!
• Lovely blog friends who send sweet messages and parcels and offers of help!  You are all kind and generous and I do appreciate your friendship!  In particular, am 
• Feeling quite pleased about having recycled some old packing white sticky labels from school to seal parcels. The eco-caring-caretaker was having a rant about this massive bundle of labels stuck to shiny paper that were included in a paper order and wondering why on earth they had to produce such a mass of them that didn't even get used. At which point, I said, "Oooh, I could use those as parcel tape!" and took them off him.  So far, 4 parcels have been sealed with those and several envelopes been reused by covering the old addresses with a bit of white label- nice strong labels they are too! As good as parcel tape!  Love a bit of reusing!
• Sad that the petition to revoke Article 50 and not leave the EU has been dismissed by the government.
• My arrangement of 'You raise me up' for flute trio worked very nicely last night!

Hope you have a lovely day!

xx

  

TARDIS Tuesday- Romana's outfit from The Androids of Tara

Today in TARDIS Tuesday, I am looking to Classic Who companion, Romana again but this time, her first version played by the beautiful Mary Tamm.  Mary Tamm was only the Doctor's companion for 6 stories- the overarching Key to Time set of 6 stories.  I loved her as a teenager!


And here you can see her and myself!

In the episode entitled, The Androids of Tara which is basically a rip off of the Prisoner of Zenda, Romana discovers she is the spitting image of Princess Strella.

Romana wears a very regal but unusual outfit comprising of a Purple velvet coat with a high military collar with extra satin lapels with green piping.  She wears a hat with a green waist band, high brown boos and some green satin trousers.

All the items I wore were in my wardrobe anyway so this was really a Closet cosplay as I call them.

My long-standing purple Debenhams coat with green leggings and knee-high boots.

My charity-shopped purple hat was adorned with a green pair of tights!

What do you think?

Not bad for a rummage in my wardrobe!

xx

Photo an Hour 23rd March 2019

efreree

 I took part in Photo an Hour on Saturday!  Here's what I got up to.

10am:  Having woken up late at 9.30am after not setting an alarm clock (a bliss), I went downstairs to put the washing machine on, take down and fold the last lots of washing, make myself a cup of tea and went back to bed to read my book, The Train to Impossible Places
11am:  Having hung the washing up, ahrgh, it seems to be 11am and I was eating Avocado on a Sesame seed bagel for breakfast!
12pm: After the shower, I was getting dressed and looking out the window at the garden, admiring the Cherry Blossom.
1pm:  Having wrapped up 2 parcels, I headed out on my bike to town to the post office. This was highly annoying as the man in the post office didn't know how to do an International Tracked and Signed for parcel so it took a while. Also visited the bakery to get some bread.

2pm: Home having come home via the Chipshop.  I bought a piece of Southern Fried chicken and a half portion of chips which I ate with 2 slices of the delicious bread from the bakery. Along with tea, I set out a choice of reading material- my book and the English Heritage magazine that came in the post.

3pm:  Hanging the next lot of washing out and a bit of pottering round the garden including filling the bird feeders.

4pm:  Finally practising my flute for tonight's concert.  Tackling Ian Clarke's Zoom Tube trying not to kill my ears at the Top, top, top F#s!

5pm:  Irritatingly, discovered that despite asking for it, the man in the post office had NOT given me my Proof of Postage certificate and given I was sending a huge parcel of Cosplay clothes to my friend in Germany who had used my address to send things to, I was completely paranoid so I headed back into town to the post office. He handed it to me as I came in with no explanation of why he hadn't given it to me.  Even more paranoid.  Now at 5pm back to practising Zoom Tube- going over my Quarter Tone scale over and over again!

6pm:  Stowing away the 8 packets of Pickled Onion Space Raiders I had picked up in the Post Office that were reduced to 5p each for after Lent.  If I don't, CBC will eat them whilst berating me on how unhealthy and bad for me these crisps are.  He doesn't quite get the hypocrisy of this! 

7pm (well actually 6.30pm):  Ready and dressed for my conceert!  Wearing this gorgeous Monsoon Jacquard silk dress I picked up in the charity shop a year ago but not actually worn yet!!

8pm:  No photo. Disaster!  We arrived at the church to discover I HAD FORGOTTEN MY FLUTE CASE!!!!! We had to hurry home and get it and return to the concert.  At 8pm, I think I was back and practising my flute!  The concert went well!

9pm: Waiting in the Indian Takeaway for some Dhal and rice!

10pm:  No photo: I think I was watching Neighbours on Channel 5od!

11pm:  Just coming upstairs to bed. CBC already asleep. Pinky is waiting for me!

Well, that's my incredibly sedentary day (apart from the 5.5 miles cycling and practice!)

What did you do this weekend? More about what I did on Sunday too!

x

Talk to the flowers

On Sunday, I went into the garden as it was sunny (it didn't stay that way).

I noticed so many plants that had started growing which was a joyous surprise!!!

A lovely white Hyacinth- I don't remember these last year!  Those red berries have started growing again as as the Flowering Currant-type plant and the Fennel flowers have already become prolific but in the foliage stage only.  The Rosemary flowering looks really attractive and the miniature Daffodils are a riot of joy,not forgetting the cherry Forget-me-not!

 And there's some pink too!
A cherry blossom by my shed looks so attractive right now-  I only pruned it weeks ago! A pink Hyacinth too and I always forget the names of these small pink flowers!! Anyone know?!

I can't wait to see the garden gearing up to show its best as Spring reaches us!

How is your garden faring now?

xx

Holland and Barrett 12 days of Beauty Calendar

I have a confession to make here.   I have been feeling uncomfortable about the expansion of all those Advent Beauty calendars that have been taking over Advent for the last few years.  I like the idea of them in the sense it is quite innovative and you get 'a good deal' in terms of what you get with them but I just feel that we are all over-saturated with gifts at Christmas anyway so having a whole month, practically, of gifts to ourselves is just excessive; the amount of packaging and waste it produces (a box for the Advent Calendar, individual sections within, the packing of the actual products individually)  for me, yet again, detracts from the simplicity of Advent- the excitement and much makes it too much. I have had no intention of buying one of them.

Thus it seems rather hypocritical for me to be writing about what I am writing here.  Holland and Barretts did, as well as their 'Advent calendar'- a 12 days of Beauty calendar, which I can only surmise must perhaps have been something you might buy as a gift for someone at Christmas.
I was in Holland and Barrett in Felixstowe and I wanted to buy something because I like to support the High Street there when I visit- I was looking for a particular natural face cream that I usually use which seems to have been discontinued and thought I might find some rogue bottles in there. I prefer to use more natural beauty products and generally buy mine from Holland and Barrett.
Alas, I didn't find any, but they seemed to still have sale stock from Christmas on the shelf.  I was surprised to see one of these on the shelf and I commented on it to the shop assistant. She said that they were trying to get rid of them and they were reduced to £10.  I could see that that was a good deal and since I wanted to buy something from there and saw that the contents included face-cream, decided to give it a go.  I decided that I would buy it for my birthday at the end of February and open one window a day from my birthday onward.


What did it include:

You can see that the products it included, for £10 in the sale, were excellent. 

The Calendar Includes: 

Weleda Skin Food 30ml - 

Beauty Kitchen Karine Jackson Shampoo 75ml - 

Sukin Facial Cleanser 50ml - 

Miaflora Eucalyptus Oil 10ml - 

Pure Papaya Lip Balm 10g - 

Burts Bees Lip Balm 4.25g - 

Faith In Nature Orange Soap 100g - 

Dr Organic Aloe Vera Cream 50ml -

Naturtint Colour Fixing Conditioner 50ml - 

Elifexir Body Contour Cream 40ml - 

Andalou 1000 Roses Body Lotion 50ml - 

Salt Of The Earth Travel Deodorant 50ml

More natural products, those excluding certain synthetic nasties like Aluminium, Sodium Laureth Sulphate and containg more essential oils and organic products tend to be more expensive to buy so I certainly felt I got a lot for my money.  On the day I opened the window and pulled out the Eucalyptus oil, I had discovered that my Eucalyptus essential oil had run out (I wanted to put some in the oil burner to make my Mother in Law's room smell lovely and soothing) so I was delighted to find I had a whole new bottle of this!  Some of the products like the Aloe Vera Cream were full size products which I was pleased about.  

The total  value was apparently £59 (which I can well believe) so £10 was an excellent price.  A lot of these are brands I use anyway.

What about the waste factor?

Well, the box itself is substantial cardboard and the box CAN be used again- it is a decent box which could house a paper collection or worksheets or other items- and of course, could be composted.

BUT, inside, every item was held in position in a large clear plastic container. This CAN be recycled but is a lot of packing. In addition, most of these products were all in tiny individual plastic bottles and obviously, using tiny bottles is definitely not environmentally friendly in terms of plastic pollution.  This made me feel definitely uncomfortable about buying it especially since I am really trying hard to reduce my plastic waste.

It proved a very nice birthday present to myself from myself- I don't receive loads of presents, which I am glad about as I have so much anyway, but it was nice to have something to open for 12 days but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one,definitely not for Advent- too much waste and rather excessive for real Advent, but it was a nice little experiment as an effort to give my custom to Holland and Barrett, Felixstowe.

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara's Tile Print dress again!

Hi there,

THANK YOU so much for your messages on my yesterday's post. I appreciate your prayers and thoughts. I am seeing the Doctor in the morning about my blood test results so I hope that then I might know what is going on or what needs to happen next. Trying NOT to think about it too much apart from the fervent prayer and anxious thoughts.

I'm going to share a Doctor Who outfit I wore on Saturday.   I've worn this particular dress for two previous TARDIS Tuesdays and I have also made an alternative version of it before so it is quite a prolific outfit for me.  BUT....I had some shoes I wanted to wear with it differently from before!


So Clara wore this particular outfit for two episodes and promo shots and the pretty tile-print shirt dress comes from Topshop originally.  She wears it with a brown belt and some navy brogues with wooden heels that come from Bertie.

Image borrowed from ClaraOswaldcosplay.com

And here's how I wore it on Saturday for watching a concert.

For me, this was one of the Clara items I loved and wanted the most - it's the combination of collared shirt dress and a pretty print plus the colours that appealed to me.

And I finally managed to get the Bertie heels (though her alternative ones she wears with lots of other outfits!) in my size if you remember I had a pair of Size 5's that I bought the wrong size for.  A fellow instagram Clara fan really wants this size and I told her she could have mine if she found me Size 8's - which she did and they are wending their way to her in the US hopefully tomorrow! This is one of those outfits that I feel pretty in (in the words of Maria!).  

The funny thing was, at the concert, I was sitting there in my Clara outfit and one of the songs started and the accompaniment at the start was the EXACT same note pattern in terms of pitch and rhythm as Clara's theme from the incidental music from Doctor Who!

I delightedly leaned over to CBC and said, "It's Clara's theme!" . Since his string group at school had been playing a version of it in their last concert and thus he knew it, he conceded that it was indeed just like Clara's theme!  I felt so special!

What do you think of this outfit?  Do you ever notice that music sounds like other pieces?  I am terrible for noticing this! I remember playing Stravinsky's  Symphony in 3 movements and playing a bit that reminded me of 'Catch the Pigeon' (Dastardly Dan and Mutley!)  and giggling every time! And Ralph Vaughn-Williams' London Symphony is blatantly, "The Phaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantom of the Opera- HAVE a banana!"  Anyway, I digress...

xx

St Patrick's Day outfit

 Hello there,

I hope you are well. I thought I'd share the outfit I wore for most of the day (I say most of the day as I woke very late and threw on a sweatshirt which had a big stain on it, to wear to church and some trousers which I later changed out of).
CBC reminded me it was St Patrick's Day so I decided to don a green dress.  This sheep-print dress was made by fellow blogger Char (over at T-rexes and Tiaras) which I bought from her in a Wardrobe sale and it fits me perfectly.  I decided to wear it with a white collared vest top underneath.

On my collar, I wore 2 of my Irish pin badges I bought during my cruise visits to Ireland in 2016- a little Shamrock and a Celtic cross.  Boots, tights and socks to finish it off.

I confess to you here, that I have been very worried this week about something related to health matters, something bothering me for a while (I'm having some tests) and at church today, I was filled with such gratitude as I felt God's presence in that service. I was shown such love and compassion and support through both the sermon- about God's omnipotence, through the bible readings of psalms - particularly Psalms 89, 46 and  Psalm 91; through the actions and words of others, through the songs, "You were the word," by Hillsong and Chris Tomalin's "Good, good God,".  Be still and know that I am God was a song in a concert last night I watched and it was the reading today. I think that was God speaking to me. I confess that perhaps in part, I really have been thinking that perhaps I have failed on so many levels that God had given up on me but what a lie that is!  No matter what may come of what is going on, I know he is with me.  If you are in the habit of praying, please pray that what is going on is not what I am worrying about and that God will heal.  Perhaps I am oversharing but I believe in the transformative prayers of faith and I am sharing for that reason.

Sending you much love.

x

Another trip to the Refill Room (Zero Waste shop)

I mentioned visiting The Refill Room, a Zero-waste shop in a seaside town not too drastically far away from us.

On Saturday (actually now 2 weeks ago! Forgot to publish this!)  when the sun was out, we decided to pay a visit to that Seaside town so I made sure to bring some containers and bags in order to take advantage of being there and being able to get to the Refill Room.  Because just going there to visit the shop would not be very eco-friendly!

So....what did I buy?

1.  Well, at the back, we have a big brown paper bag.  That is a bag of Branflakes.  The dried goods all come in big pick-n-mix style containers. I filled a brown paper bag with bran flakes! They are all Organic so worked out more expensive than my buying my usual Own Brand Lidl ones but I was happy with the price.  I think they cost me about £2.30 for 500g.

2.  In front of those, you can see a Killner bottle. I filled this up with Organic Gluten free Tamari sauce (this is Soy Sauce basically).  I bought this Killner bottle to fill up as I use quite a lot of this.  This was a lot more expensive than I would have liked. Although buying Top Quality Organic Soy sauce would cost this much, I usually use Lidl or Aldi's own so paying around £5.80 for this (around 300ml)  was quite a hard but it was already dispensed!  Still, I am glad not to be making any waste from this.

3.  To the right, we have a White Shampoo bottle.  In this, I have purchased the Organic Sea Buckthorn  shampoo which cost me around £2.30 for around 300ml which seemed a good price as I like to use Natural Products anyway which are more expensive.

4.  In my blue Tupperware box, I purchased a large quantity of Butterbeans £1.57 for around 580g which is cheaper than buying tins of these already cooked.

These were all my purchases from the Refill Room but I also bought some vegetables (without packaging) in the Greengrocers nearby which were all cheaper than supermarkets.

Last Saturday, because of Engineering works, CBC and his Mum drove me to this town so I could catch the alternative train line to London so I took advantage of being in the town.

I took along 2 empty shower gel bottles as I thought we were out of Shower gel (it turned out I found 2 more bottles under my chest of drawers later).  Because of traffic, I ended up not having time to actually go to the store myself so I left the bottles with CBC who promised to fill them up.

As it happened CBC couldn't find a parking space so he sent his Mum in.  Who misunderstood the 'weighing your own bottles' concept and ended up paying for the bottle weight also so I can't comment on that!!!

He also went and filled up my Ecover Fabric softener bottles from Greens, the health food store round the corner.

Here are some pics from a precious visit where I bought various herbs (much cheaper) , red lentils and Jasmine rice!

Next time, I'd like to fill up on Olive Oil and plan to use an old Lemonade glass bottle.  I have to say, I have a lovely warm feeling that comes from knowing I have used an old container rather than generating new plastic or other waste.  Though some things are a little more expensive, others balance them out so I am pleased to continue with this endeavour!  As Jesus said, "Many drops make an ocean!"  My little corner of the waste may not do lots, but it is SOMETHING!

x

Beach Huts

The Beach hut!  A glorious part of the British seaside in all their myriad colours and styles.  They are a real opportunity to parade your personality if you so feel so inclined, you can paint or add quirky additions to your little piece of beachside property.

But the inside is always an enigma to me as if one is actually open, it feels wrong to brazenly gawp inside to see what mysteries go on!

Thus, I just have to lustily admire the exterior views.

Here are pictures of some of the beauties I saw at the beach in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

A set of pastel pretties with some delicate scalloping detail adorning that middle minty one.

Y knot, with its glorious stripes is festooned with a mosaic name.

This blue and white stripy one enjoys a dolphin!

A collection of blues and a rather splendid stripy one.

3 way stripes, more scalloping with contrasting door and some more bright shades.

Ah, this one is especially decorative with its extended roof shape, stripes, piping AND scalloping!

Grandma's Little House is wrapped up warmly for those sea breezes.

Although looking rather more rustic, the bright shades make up for slightly tatty paint work.

All the blues.

All the blues and purples.

This takes scalloping to a whole new level- we have almost waves!

A real variety in this row.

Do you spy the tiny ice-cream on this tasty-looking beach hut?

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Donna Noble in The Unicorn and the Wasp

Hi there,

Hope you are well.

This week, for TARDIS Tuesday, I thought I'd deviate from the norm and prepare an outfit from a companion who I have only used for TARDIS Tuesday once before:  Donna Noble.

She was played by the wonderful Catherine Tate and she was a brilliantly funny companion to David Tennant.

One of my favourite episodes was The Unicorn and the Wasp in which they met Agatha Christie.

Through the episode, Donna dons (ha ha) a beautiful 1920's beaded dress. But, at the very end of the episode, when they are dropping off Agatha to face the aftermath of her husband's adultery, Donna supports this casual look.  She wears a sort of deep red loose top with a brown buckled belt and jeans with some sort of Gold hanging earrings, probably her ubiquitous hoops.

Image borrowed from Bad Wolf cosplay closet

And here is my version of it.

I have long thought of wearing this top for this outfit, in fact, this post with the image above has been saved in my drafts for over a year.

The top was charity shopped a good few years ago as I definitely remember wearing it back in this post in 2012

Here's my pulling a Donna Noblesque expression so you can see my necklace- she seems to be sporting something similar back in the picture above and 2 below! This was my Nan's.

IMage borrowed from Cheezburger.com

https://cheezburger.com/8437990912/funny-doctor-who-donna-noble-miscommunication-meme

What do you think? Does this outfit work? Do you wear anything like this?

x

Memories of childhood: All those instruments

When I was a little girl, I sang in our church choir. From a very young age, I used to sit on choir practice with my Mum so I was delighted to finally get to sing in the choir from when I was about 5.  We used to sing for the morning services and then for the Evensong in the evenings.  At Evensong, we would always sing a Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis and then a Psalm.

Without a doubt, for me, as a child, Psalm 150 was my absolute favourite!  I used to be overjoyed when we sang this particular psalm because it was such a joyful psalm and I loved that it was full of musical instruments. It seemed such a riotous and loud psalm, always sung with a joyful musical setting.

Tonight, CBC was singing for the Choral Evensong at a church with a choir he sings with occasionally and I went along with J, his Mum to support him. 

When I saw in the Order of Service, that they were singing this Psalm, my heart soared with joy and nostalgia. It is very seldom that I sing psalms nowadays, given that I don't sing with a traditional church choir nor the depping Cathedral choir I used to sing with.

It was sung most beautifully and most jubilantly.

I felt compelled to come home and write out the words of this most beloved psalm. I think it is a most fitting hymn of praise towards God in Lent time.  Lent might be regarded as a time of reflection, preparing and perhaps more serious but it is a time of expectation, anticipation of joy and a reminder  for me of what God has done for me so HURRAH, I want to sing all the happy psalms!

Is there anything you sang in your childhood that used to make you overwhelmingly happy when you got to sing it?

x

World Book Day outfit 2019- Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them

This year, my World Book Day costume comes from a book within a book.  In Harry Potter, Harry receives a list of the books he is required to buy for his Hogwarts studies including a book called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.  Back a long time ago, JK Rowling actually wrote her own book for Comic Relief (or was it Children in Need) as it if it was written by Newt. I remember buying it and reading it.

IMage borrowed from Radiotimes.com

Now, in the last couple of years, the Harry Potter franchise has created films about the character Newt Scamander and his adventures looking for animals.   CBC had to dress up last year for Harry Potter night at his school as Newt Scamander and he dutifully put together a costume for it.  I declared at that point, that my World Book Day character was already sorted.

IMage borrowed from Aimshop.dk

And here's me!

 CBC bought the turquoise coat, the tan waistcoat and the scarf from various websites.

I'm wearing my own pair of tweedy trousers, white shirt and men's brown brogue shoes.

If you can see a green creature attached to my lapel, that is a Bowtruckle which my Mum crocheted for CBC last year.  He's super cute.

The suitcase came from Sarah Nelson Gingerbread in Grasmere and we filled it with various animals including

Ones we already owned:  Owl, Fox, Squirrel, Foxsquirrel, Crab

Bought for 1 sickle a piece at Harry Potter night:  Another Bowtruckle, 2 Nifflers, 1 Pygmy Puff.

It was great fun to get dressed up like this and I found the sideways glances on the train amusing!

Lots of the children at school knew who I was straight away. Others, mainly younger, were not sure.  It was fun opening up my case and sharing the animals with the children.

Lots of the other teachers made a great effort. Other costumes included:  Wizard of Oz Year 5: 2 witches, 1 Lion, 1 Dorothy, 1 Scarecrow, How to train your dragon Year 4:  Hiccup the Viking and Toothless,  Year 6: Alice in Wonderland: Queen of Hearts, Alice (wearing my dress), Mad Hatter, White Rabbit; Year 2: Snow White x 2, SMT:  Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, 

I'd love to know if you dressed up and what you were?

x