'Music to Free the Soul'

'Music to free the soul' is what we were offered last night by the wonderful Callington Community Gospel Choir

. They came to our church in France last year, but this year gave us three concerts with over thirty of their members. Generously funding their own travel and accommodation, all we had to do was find the venue , and of course to feed them!

Last night's concert was held in the New Theatre in the grounds of La Maison Mere des Freres, a brotherhood who have supported our Anglican church in so many ways.

In the afternoon the choir gave a workshop which, although we didnt attend, we heard was very inspiring. During the evening concert all those who had participated in the workshop (both French and English) were invited to join the Choir and sing with them. The fairly terrible photo below shows them revelling in their singing.The sincerity and commitment of this Choir shines through. Started in 2005 it has become well known throughout the West country in particular. Trained partly by the London Community Gospel choir, they have many links with other areas, and have given pleasure to so many people.
The chorus from one of my favourite songs 'Footprints in the Sand' is very meaningful, and I find myself singing it so oftern.

'I promise you,
I'm always there.
When your heart is filled with sorrow and despair.
I'll carry you when you need a friend,
You'll find my footprints in the sand'

Thank you Callington Choir for another memorable concert!

Swap parcel.

I'm just putting the last buttons and bows into my swap parcel to go off to faraway Australia. I wanted to get it off by the first week in August, and it's almost ready to go. There are little jars of lace, buttons and ribbons falling all over my worktable. I hope my partner likes what I'm sending!

Do remember to tell us about your parcel when you receive it, please.

A grandson's visit to Swaziland.

When I was at School the most exciting visit we made was to Stratford on Avon to see a performance of Hamlet, the set play for our A Level exams. My grandson, seventeen, has just returned from a visit to Swaziland, with a group from his College. I think it has probably taught him far more than I ever learned from visits anywhere.

The College supports schoolchildren in an area called Shewula. In 2001 it was found that hundreds of children were not attending school for a variety of reasons. Some had been abandoned, orphaned, disabled. But most simply could not afford the school fees which are obligatory in Swaziland. Fees for tuition, stationery and uniforms were just beyond the average family's income, if income they had.

Now there are three schools known as non-formal schools where no fees are charged, the buildings part funded by the College. Education is free, as are two meals a day. But with limited funds there are still only a few hundred children able to take part in school life.
My grandson came home after spending time teaching, helping, befriending the children. He told me how it had altered his views of the world, how fortunate he felt, and how cross he was with 'everyone who is moaning about their lives in England'. He plans to go back there later to help (and would have loved to have brought one or two of the children home!)

Comments on your comments.

Thank you for your comments on the last two posts. In answer to the many people who said 'Change your Bank!' I wish we could. But if you live abroad it is almost impossible to open a new account in the UK unless you are resident or have an address there.

Many thanks for the Beetroot recipes and suggestions. I can see that I have lots to learn about the 'bossy vegetable!'

Oh, and I found my followers et al. They have drifted right down to the bottom of the page. Will they climb up for me? No. Work in progress.

Beetroot, roast and other.

We have produced a lot of Beetroot (Beets, to you in the USA) in our vegetable garden. Such a lot that I am slightly concerned as to what to do with it. Generally I cook it and freeze it, but it is often slightly limp when unfrozen. I have to say that it isnt my most favourite vegetable, and the thought of eating it drenched in vinegar leaves me cold.

When I was teaching in a Convent school beetroot made a very regular appearance on the lunch table, together with pink Spam and boiled potatoes. Now there's a menu!

I recently discovered a recipe for Roast beetroot, which is very palatable.

Set the oven to 220 C

Cut the beetroot in halves or quarters and spread in a roasting tin. Tuck some sprigs of Thyme with the slices.

Prepare a dressing of oil, Balsamic vinegar, lemon juice garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix well. Pour it over the beetroot , dot with a little cubed butter and cover the roasting tin with foil. Roast for about 45 minutes until tender. Place on a serving plate and drizzle the remaining dressing around it. Garnish with more thyme.
I hadnt realised till recently that Beetroot has a very high Nitrate level, which effectively lowers one's Blood pressure. I'm very fond of a well known food writer's comment. Jane Grigson describes Beetroot as ' Too bossy a vegetable'.!

Lost, stolen or strayed.

I am SO angry with my English bank. I wont name it but suffice to say that the name bears a strong resemblance to a town in Spain.

It is now almost three weeks since I reported my lost credit card, when I was told a new one would be reissued in 7 to 10 days. Still no card.

After long minutes of pressing phone keys (your call is important to us)

I finally got through to a real person.

The conversation was almost surreal.

I explained that I had not had the replacement card.

Brightly she said... 'Oh, so how can I help you today?

Me, gritted teeth 'You could find out if my card has actually been reordered?'

She ...'I'll put you on hold'

Several minutes of very pretty music.

She....'I'm afraid the card hasnt been reordered.'

Me, tearing hair out..'But they told me it would be. So has it actually been cancelled?'

She...'Oh yes, it's definitely cancelled'

Me...'so you do have a record of my call then?'

She..'I'll have to put you on hold while I check that in the system'

Tra la la

She..'Yes we do have a record of that call'

Me , speaking very calmly and slowly...'So why wasn't somethiong done about my replacement card?'

And so we went on, for at least ten minutes, after which she transferred me to another advisor who told me that the card has been re-issued but 'according to Company Policy it will take up to four weeks for it to arrive in the post'.

I did ask why. I did ask if they sent it on a world tour first. I did mention that all my other cards from England had come within two weeks. But all I got was ...'Company policy'.

I'd love to know how it can take four weeks.

Is there a notice on it that says Deliver this VERY slowly?

Some garden photos

We have two little John Downie Crab apple trees. They are the only ones with edible fruit, and we do love our Crabapple jelly.

We planted them three years ago and for the last two years they have given nine pounds of fruit each time.

This year they are so heavily laden that we have had to tie the branches up to stop them breaking. There's going to be a lot of jelly ! Our apple orchard is full of fruit also and we are now wondering where we will store it all. A friend pruned the trees for us last year and they are now producing so much fruit.
Hydrangeas are a very Breton flower and you will see them on postcards and calendars featuring Brittany. I love the bluey purple ones, and it seems that whatever colour I plant turns blue.

I shouldn't have been wandering around with a camera, as there is a mountian of weeding/ironing to do. What a choice!

Where are they?

I have lost not only my followers today, but also my profile (About me), and three pictures, all of which were on the sidebar.

They've obviously departed for a short holiday.

I have no idea how to get them back!

Partners done!

.

Your partners are all sorted out.

I've sent their email addresses to you all. If there are any problems please let me know.

The list with links is on the Sidebar

Happy hunting!

Swap partners

I will be e mailing your partners to you by the end of the day so you will need to contact them for their home address.

We have twelve people in the swap, with one more person waiting to see if there is a partner for her. I will leave it open till the end of the day , so if there is one more swapper who would like to come in, please let me know.

There are no rules, just a couple of suggestions.

The theme is 'Buttons and Bows etc', but it can extend to the oddments we all have in our workboxes. Lace, ribbons, bows, bits and pieces......

I know how generous you bloggers are, but let's keep it simple and not send expensive gifts. Much as I love receiving them it has to be a frugal world nowadays!

I'm shall try to send by the first week in August.

Any queries, please email me.

Giverny

Today I read on No Spring Chicken's blog, a post mentioning Monet's house. It brought back very happy memories of our visits there over the years. The first time we went was during a stay in Paris, from where we took a tour bus out to Giverny.

Time and time again we revisited, driving from wherever we were staying. The seasons changed as did the garden.

Spring brought Tulips and Iris clustered together in the long beds. Summer was a flush of roses, all colours and sizes, creeping over the arches.

Standing on the little bridge, so often painted by Monet, one could see a lonely easel in the garden, waiting for its owner to return and carry on his painting.

It is a magical place to visit.

Swap talk.

We now have ten twelve people who are taking part in the swap, which makes it more fun.

If I don't already have your e mail address, please would you send it to me. My e mail link is on the profile.

These are the swappers so far,

Floss at Troc, Broc and Recup

Angela at Tracing Rainbows

Shane at Roses Lace and Brocante

Lorrie at Fabric, Paper, Thread

Marigold Jam

Pearly Queen at Violet white

Liz at Quilterliz

Christine at Time out stitching

Pondside

Bluebell

Mary at Neat and Tidy

......and

Me

I will send you your partner at the end of the week.

Buttons and Bows Swap

So far there are six sevennine of us in the swap (See previous post). I think I'll wait a couple of days to see if we collect a few others, which would make it more fun.

I thought about the question of weight and did a comparison with a previous swap organised by Floss, when we exchanged magazines.

I weighed one.....1 lb I weighed two, nearly 2 lbs.
Then I picked a random 50 buttons, a handful of lace and ribbons, weighed them and it came to well under half a pound. so I don't think we need to worry too much, unless you were thinking of sending hundreds of buttons!




Hope we have a few more people coming in. I'll give it till Thursday 21st. In the meantime, maybe you would like to take my buttons and bows button to put on your blog.

Buttons and bows...a Swap?

Trying to tidy my workbox yesterday, I wondered whether anyone would be interested in a Swap of Buttons, bows, ribbons and lace. all those little bits and pieces that get tangled up in the workbox, and like mine, need sorting through. (What's that key doing in there?) Maybe we could each send a partner a small collection of the pretty things that perhaps we no longer need, in exchange for more pretty things?

Let me know if anyone would like to take part, and also whether you prefer to send only in your own country or to anywhere. Then we'll go ahead.

Hedge cutting

I can hear Summer sounds today. The Bees are buzzing in the rose bed. There is a grasshopper singing happily on the lawn. A rush of House Martins' wings celebrates their arrival , hunting for insects.

And now, the welcome sound of the Hedge cutter.

Every year a very nice young man comes to cut our hedges. It's not something that either of us can now do.....and there is a fair amount of hedge. When he has finished this one, there is a long hedge of Eleagnus to reduce.After that there is a little job involving repairing a shed roof.....

We are very fortunate to be able to have him to help us, and as he is English (with a full work permit) we don't have to explain anything in French!

Of course, it being Bastille Day, he is probably the only person working today. Most of the French will be sleeping off the excesses of last night's parties.

Lavender time.

I am picking the last of the Lavender this week, while the sun is out. The plants do seem to have spread somewhat, and I've had to take the shears to the ones across the front path.

The problem with picking on a sunny day is that the Bees are very busy and do not like to be disturbed. There are small ones, big ones and even bigger Bumbles , all droning around buzzily in the flowers. I think it must have a drugging efect on them, as they are so slow.I have two more bushes to cut. Then the stems need to be dried, so I lay them out on the garden table in the warmth. They come in and I store them in a linen bag until I'm ready to take the heads off . The scent is amazing, and I can feel quite drowsy too. Maybe it isnt only lettuce that has a soporific effect?

The Lavender is used for, what else, Lavender sachets, which I sell at Church or Charity fairs. I'll show you some later.

I can hardly believe that this Geranium was the third in a Special offer....Buy two, get the third free. When I bought it it was very tiny.

Look at it now! It sits on our front porch, gleaming, to welcome visitors, and at night the flowers seem to have a light of their own.

My new recipe book.

My son , who is a pretty good cook, told me how good this book was. Just before we left Cornwall, he presented me with my own copy. Aren't sons lovely!

It is indeed a very interesting book, and many of the recipes are ones that we would like. Somehow it's comforting to think that I don't need to hunt around for dozens of ingredients, but can use three or four only.

Nigel Slater is a great exponent of 'Use what you have in the cupboard', and I so agree with it.

A very simple dish that I'm going to cook is 'Pasta with Roast tomatoes and goat's cheese'. Though I will be substituting another cheese as my husband isnt a goat lover!

All you need is;

Ripe tomatoes (got so many in the greenhouse!)

Pasta

7 oz cheese, crumbled.

Roast the tomatoes for about 25 mins at 190 C till slightly charred.

Cook the pasta in boiling water. Drain and return to pan.

Roughly mash the tomatoes with a fork and stir them into the pasta.

Gently stir in the cheese.

That's it.

(for the moment I have decided to ignore Blogger's problems . Forgive me if I don't comment on your posts )

Oh, blogger...............

I'm thinking of giving up. For several years I have had no problems with Blogger, but during the last couple of months, like many people, I have found it very difficult.

I still cannot leave comments on blogs that have an 'embedded' comment box rather than a pop-up box.

I have tried posting as anonymous and adding my name, (what a silly way to have to write a comment). Sometimes it works.

I've tried 'Open ID'. That never works. I get a message saying my ID isnt viable.

I've signed in, signed out till I am fed up.

And now, the latest little 'blip' is that every time I do write a comment on anyone's post, I get 'Service Unavailable. Error 503'.

So the flowers below are not an offering to Blogger, but just a pretty photo to make up for my impatience.

It was one of the baskets that I did for the wedding that we went to in Cornwall recently.

I wonder if there are many of us having the same problems, and sighing a lot?

The patience of friends.

Whilst we were away, for nearly three weeks, we had some friends staying in our house for a holiday. I rang them a couple of days after they had arrived and breezily said, 'Any problems?'

'Eveerything is fine', they said...'but (quietly) um, we cant seem to get any hot water....not that it's a problem as the temps are 35 degrees and we like cool showers. We really do'.
Oh help. We in England. Our house in France. The plumber in France. What to do? Much pondering. More phone calls to ask our friends to give us the phone number of the Boiler maintenance people, which luckily is written on the Boiler.
Call to France..all this on mobile phones. Luckily the boiler people know us from the annual services.

Explain...'We're in England (Oh la la madame!)
Friends are in our house.
They have no hot water.
Can you send a technician out, today...please?!'
'Bien sur Madame, he will arrive this evening after 5 o clock, do not worry'.
I love my Boiler Company.

Next phone call was from friend, who was coping magnificently with what she termed her 'schoolgirl French', but needed me to talk the plumber through where to find a particular tap. This necessitated a great deal of me bellowing at my husband ('where's the little tap thingy for the extra water?'), me translating and telling the plumber in French, and him roaring with laughter and telling me 'No problem, dont worry, Madame'.

Finally hot water.
Such patient friends who didnt really want to say anything in case we worried.

Tomato time

I'm very thankful that I can go into our garden and find wonderful home grown vegetables and fruit.

This week it's the turn of the greenhouse tomatoes. I picked 6 pounds this morning, and they are waiting to be made into tomato sauce.....lots of Basil, an onion and garlic. I shall freeze that and maybe make some roasted tomato soup, which is delicious, and will be wonderful in the Winter, reminding us of the taste of Summer.

I also found a fat little cucumber, the first from our outdoor plant. I havent grown them outdoors before.

The French beans are ready to pick. the mange-touts are tender and young. The Blackberries are looking as though they will be ripe to pick by next week.

It really is the busiest time in the garden, so, oh dear, I havent any time to do the ironing!

Stormy crossing.

Well, yes, I exaggerate. It was a bad crossing from Plymouth to Roscoff. Not the worst we have had by any means, but it was impossible to walk around. We stayed in our cabin which was equipped with tea making equipment, and read and slept. No way would it have been possible to go down for a meal.

Landing at 9.30 pm we then had two hours drive to our home. I really dont like driving in the dark but there was so little traffic that it wasnt too bad, and we got home about midnight, shattered.

Friends have been staying whilst we were away and it was so lovely to walk into an imaculate house, fall into bed and sleep with no worries.
Well, just one worry this morning. I found that my purse wasnt in my bag, possibly it dropped out in the cabin on the boat. But it meant I have had to spend the morning phoning banks and stopping cards. A nuisance, but it could have been worse.

So now we are back, and the garden needs some attention. The tomatoes are ready to be picked and processed into sauce. The lavender is so tall that it practically needs a machete.

Busy for the next few days!

Travelling back

Sadly packing.

Travelling back this afternoon.

I miss my county of Cornwall, the water, the views. Brittany is very lovely , but this is where I belong! Dear friends of ours, gazing over Maenporth beach near Falmouth.

We'll be back!

River views.

A beautiful, and very private part of the River Test in Hampshire. Ducks bob in and out of the reeds, bustling along with their babies.A little bridge lies over the river, leading along a hidden pathway. Flag iris and kingcups gaze up from the water. I wanted to wander here all day..

Here is another beautiful thatched house in the village.
How talented these thatchers are. Everything looks so even and beautifully finished.

Would you like to live here?

Days in Hampshire.

My husband's family all live in Hampshire, so we visit there when we can. Last week was a birthday occasion, and a group of us went to the delightful Mayfly Inn, on the river near Stockbridge. The terrace was brilliantly colourful with huge tubs and baskets of petunias and geraniums. The ducks came quacking off the river to see if we had anything for them. We ate a delicious lunch and celebrated a very tranquil birthday. Staying in this Bed and Breakfast was a treat, although my tall husband did have to watch his head! There are so many thatched houses in this village.
More photos next time.