Domesticalia

I'd intended to do another post long before this but life has been busy and there just hasn't been time. My elder son and his family are moving back to South Africa in the New Year so I'm seeing a good deal of my granddaughters while I can and of course we have Solstice/Yule/Christmas approaching rather more rapidly than many of us expected. The Christmas cake is always the first thing I make and I do it mid November to give it time to mature. I always intend to do it at the end of October but so far haven't actually achieved that ambition! The photo shows this year's effort which is wrapped in clingfilm and foil and sitting on top of a cupboard now. It will be coming down briefly on Wednesday for it's first 'feed' of sherry, I shall do this again around December 10th then a week after that I shall make the marzipan and put that on - in theory anyway:)



Next on the list is the mincemeat,this needs time to mature as well but fortunately there are a couple of jars left from last year to make the couple of dozen mince pies for my WI Christmas event on December 2nd. I can imagine the looks of horror on some of your faces when you read this - don't worry, it is so full of spices and alcohol that it will easily keep for 12 months.



I've been busy knitting too, a hat for George which I forgot to take a photo of and this little sweater for Lucy.



I like knitting dishcloths, they are quick and brilliant to use, I have a stack of them for myself and thought I'd make a few as stocking fillers for my daughter and DILs.



On Wednesday night there's a meeting of my local history group and I'll be reporting on the progress of the War Memorial project, I've been doing quite a bit of research on my two soldiers and usually spend more time than I should on it because I find it so absorbing. This is the folder of information which hopefully will get fatter and fatter as time goes on.



I'm starting to make and freeze things ready for the holiday season and each year I tend to make the same things because if I don't I get into trouble! This is chocolate truffle torte ready to go into the freezer. The part you see will be on the bottom when it is served and underneath is a coating of crushed Amaretti biscuits.



Another old favourite is lemon cream pie, I always make two of these as they disappear in no time. I serve them with sliced kiwi fruit or strawberries on top. I've given this recipe to pretty much everyone who's tried it - it originally came to me from a lady in my WI who brought it as her contribution to one of our Christmas parties about 20 years ago.



It's a good while since I last did any cross-stitch but I've been inspired by seeing some lovely primitive Christmas stitching on a blog that I read and I decided to make some little 'tucks' and bowl fillers for myself. This is nearly finished and I've really enjoyed doing it - hopefully I shall still like it when I've mangled it up trying to turn it into a little pillow!
I really will try to post more often - there's still one of my USA posts to do and some nice photos taken on one of my walks in the woods on a beautiful day at the end of October. I've recently done a workshop on ancient woodland boundaries and trackways which has made me look at the woods in a whole new way - but that's for another time.

Remembrance

This is one of our local War memorials with its poppy wreaths which were layed last Sunday when all the official ceremonies took place. I prefer to remember at the original time - the Eleventh hour of the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month when in 1918 the guns finally fell silent after four horrific years which left the world changed forever.



These are the names of the local men who lost their lives in the First World War, if you click on it you will be able to read it more easily. It isn't a long list compared with many places but Totley was a tiny place in those days and the loss would have been felt deeply by all the local people. I'm co-ordinating a project by our local history society to research each of the names on the plaque so that they stop being just names and become men with families and friends. Eventually there will be a Roll of Honour on our website with a short story of each of their lives. The project is in its infancy but already we know that the Turner boys were brothers who died seven months apart in 1917, Bernard was just 19 years old. Tom Fisher was from a farming family and was working as a cowman on a farm in a nearby Derbyshire village in 1911. He died at Cambrai just before Christmas 1917 - for his family Christmas will never have been the same again. Lt Roy Milner, at the age of 21, was the youngest of the three children of the family who lived at Totley Hall. He was in the Territorial Army and marched proudly off to war in August 1914 cheered along the lane by all the local people. By the end of September he was dead, one of the first British officers to die in WW1 - mown down by machine gun fire as he lead his men into action. Death didn't distinguish between rich and poor, farmer's son or wealthy aristocrat - their broken bodies were left on Flanders fields and a whole generation of brave young men now lie beneath row upon row of white crosses and many don't even have that to mark their sacrifice. Thousands have never been found, they were blown to bits or buried deep in Flanders mud and are now just names on a memorial. They all deserve both our remembrance and our gratitude.



As ever I remember also our two family members who gave their lives

Pte Harry Hindley Simpson, 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers killed in action August 1916

AC2 Harold Harrison RAF buried in Jakarta War Cemetery, Indonesia 1942


"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

The Last of Autumn

THE LAST OF AUTUMN

Come, bleak November, in thy wildness come:

Thy mornings clothed in rime, thy evenings chill;

E’en these have power to tempt me from my home,

E’en these have beauty to delight me still.





Though Nature lingers in her mourning weeds,

And wails the dying year in gusty blast,

Still added beauty to the last proceeds,

And wildness triumphs when her bloom is past.





Though long grass all the day is drench’d in dew,

And splashy pathways lead me o’er the greens;

Though naked fields hang lonely on the view,

Long lost to harvest and its busy scenes;





Yet in the distance shines the painted bough,

Leaves changed to every colour ere they die,

And through the valley rivers widen now,

Once little brooks which summer dribbled dry.





This is an extract from a lovely poem by John Clare who wrote a great deal of exquisite nature poetry filled with wonderful descriptions of the pastoral scenes that he knew and loved so well. I started doing extracts from his Shepherd's Calendat earlier this year then was overtaken by life and only managed to do May and June. Over the winter months I'll try and do some more along with other snippets of his poetry.

Happy Samhain!

Sunset today will mark the beginning of Samhain, the last of the three Celtic harvest festivals. The word Samhain means 'summer's end' and from this point we are in the dark time of the year and the days get shorter and the nights get longer as we move towards the Winter Solstice. The Celtic people measured the days from one sunset to the next so Samhain will end at sunset tomorrow.



This is also the time when we remember our ancestors who have passed on to the Summerlands. I haven't yet set out the candles that I will light this evening but this is one from a previous year. It is surrounded with the herb rosemary for remembrance and tonight there will be individual candles for my parents and grandparents and a single large one for all the many past generations stretching back into the mists of time. I wish both them and you a Happy and Blessed Samhain.

Further Afield

At the moment blogging is having to take second place to sorting the garden out ready for winter hence the long gaps between posts. Not that I garden in the dark but by evening it's energy that's lacking rather than time. Today, however, I have been a 'lady who lunches' and a day of gallivanting has left me with rather more brain than is usual at this time of night so I thought I'd do the next instalment of my US trip. One place I always visit is Nubble lighthouse at Cape Neddick in York, Maine. It's a beautiful place as is all the Maine coastline.



There's somewhere else worth visiting in York too - saltwater taffy has been made at the Goldenrod shop for over 100 years, originally Edward Talpey stood in this window and pulled the taffy by hand, now it's done by machine but it is still a sight that people stop to see. As always I brought home a large box of the end result in a dozen different flavours - I love it:)



When we came out of the shop this wonderful car was parked outside - isn't it absolutely fabulous?



This is the Remick Country Doctor and farm Museum in Tamworth, New Hampshire which is well worth visiting if you are in the area. The Remick family settled in Tamworth over 200 years ago and six generations of the family have worked the farm since that time. The last two owners, father and son, were country doctors as well as farmers and between them they cared for the local population for 99 years. The younger Dr Remick died childless in 1993 but he set up a foundation to preserve the farm along with his home so that the public could visit and learn about the old ways of farming and doctoring.



The Enoch Remick house, built in 1808, was where the elder Dr Remick lived and the younger one grew up and had his doctor's surgery. The younger Dr Remick and his wife lived in the building that is now used as the museum.



I was allowed to take photos when we toured the house, it is Victorian in style and the parlour featured this rather splendid stove - a woodburner I imagine though I don't know for sure.


This is one of the bedrooms which has walls decorated with what are apparently rather special 19th century murals by a man called John Avery. Frankly I find it rather dark and gloomy and think it spoils what is other wise rather a nice room. I'm afraid the angle is rather odd but the rooms were small and it was hard to get a good picture.



My favourite room in the whole house - the screened in summer sleeping porch.



Isn't this refrigerator fantastic? The tin lined cupboard was filled with ice which was what kept everything cold. Apparently the ice man delivered ice in the same way that the milkman delivered milk - I should think he had to make pretty frequent deliveries during the hot New England summers too!



Some of the farm buildings with Mount Chocorua in the background. It is named for a Native American chief of the Pequawket tribe who leapt to his death from the summit.



Tamworth itself is a really attractive small town surrounded by some pretty spectacular scenery, this is the church with its unusual pagoda-like spire. I'd have been happy to spend more time there wandering round and exploring - hopefully I'll have chance to visit again one day.



Another trip took us up into the White Mountains and eventually we began to see these signs along the road. I would love to see a moose, even though they are such large animals they strike me as being rather gentle looking. I'm hoping that on my next visit I'll get chance to visit 'Moose Alley' up on Rte 3 where apparently your chances of seeing a moose are very good indeed.



I have rather a thing about covered bridges so was thrilled to bits to see this one in North Conway over the Saco River.



A kind man seeing me with my camera told me how I could get down to the river and take a photo of the bridge and the river with just the beginnings of some autumn colour in the background.



At North Conway we turned off the main road onto the Kancamagus Highway which is a wonderful 34 mile scenic drive through the White Mountains. There are stopping places all the way along and this one is by the Swift River.



Smokey Bear is the mascot of the United States Forest Service and his job is to educate the public about the dangers of forest fires. He is based on a real black bear cub who was rescued after a severe forest fire in New Mexico in 1950.



What had been a nice sunny day had turned into something rather more threatening by this stage of the drive, you can see what we are driving into and as we climbed higher the temperature was dropping rapidly. It was down to 41F at the highest levels and I began to wonder if we were going to see snow rather than rain!



It was raining when we stopped at the Sugar Hill outlook but happily there was a shelter so I could take photos without getting too wet. I think we are seeing Green's Cliff and Mt Tremont.


The highest point of the drive and decidedly wet and cold by this stage. It was really beautiful in spite of the rain and must be wonderful when the Fall colour is at its peak. On the other hand, as it is one of the most scenic drives on the leafpeepers trail, I imagine it's pretty much bumper to bumper at the height of the colour so I think I'd rather settle for what I got.

Rambling round Rye

I am finally managing a blog post of sorts, my body arrived back from the USA two weeks ago but my mind has only just joined it! I thought I'd start with a post about Rye as this is the small New Hampshire town where my friends live. It has the advantage of being on the tiny stretch of coast which New Hampshire possesses and is both pretty and historically interesting. It was the first place in New Hampshire to be settled in by Europeans when a man called William Berry set up home at Odiorne's Point in 1623. C, like me, is keen on history and is a member of the local historical society. They have a small but interesting museum which we went to see on my first day.



The area did, of course, have people living there long before any Europeans arrived on the scene. This illustration shows members of the local Native American tribe - they are the Abenaki whose name means 'people of the dawn' in the Algonquin language.



You will need to click on the photo to be able to read this lovely description of Abenaki life before the advent of the white man, I find the final words very sad - regrettably sharing wasn't on the agenda as far as the new settlers were concerned.



These are arrow heads found in the local area, they are from various time periods and the Abenaki would have used both bows and arrows and spears to do their hunting. I was really pleased to find that the local museum had several displays about the Abenaki rather than assuming that the history of Rye only began when Europeans arrived.


This chest was owned by John Langdon Seavey who was born in 1793. It contains a blanket issued to his father,William Seavey,who was a member of Capt. J Parsons Voluntary Company of Rye during the American War of Independence.


An old handmade,wooden lobster pot - so much more aesthetically pleasing than the plastic versions used today. Lobster boats still ply their trade off the coast of New Hampshire and fresh lobster is available in pretty well every restaurant. To the amazement of my seacoast friends I don't actually like lobster all that much. It's extremely messy to eat and involves a great deal of hard work for not very much reward as far as I'm concerned :)



This is now a private house but in a former existence it was the Garland Tavern, My friend points it out every time I go and I have a feeling that it has some sort of claim to fame connected with the American War of Independence but I have absolutely no clue what and I may well have imagined it - it sounds good though doesn't it?



My friends aren't able to do much walking so each morning, with the aid of a little map of Rye, I did 2 or 3 miles around the town so that I got some of the exercise that I'm used to having. As I walked I took photographs of buildings and scenes that attracted my eye. This display was in a local garden shop and gave me pleasure every time I saw it.



The Jonathan Locke House dating back to 1838, Rye has many lovely old houses like this.



I passed this gorgeous tree every day either on foot or in the car. It was unusual in having its full Fall colour as New Hampshire is last on the list as the colour works its way down from Canada. This is my fourth attempt to catch the full display and, though it was the best I've seen up to now, I was still about 10 days too early for the full show.



These three little cuties are miniature donkeys and there are two more of them just out of sight. They have a lovely paddock attached to their stable and live a life of donkey luxury! Over the many years I've been going to Rye I've got to know many of C's friends, the donkeys belong to M and I always try and see them when I visit.



The same friends own a house at the beach and this is the view from the terrace - I never need a second invitation to spend time here.



Another tree beginning to get into its stride, the colours intensified noticeably during the time I was there.



C insisted on taking this photo of me! Every year a local church has a huge sale of gourds and pumpkins as a fundraiser. There's a stand selling homemade bread, cakes and pies too - I bought a pumpkin pie and it was very good indeed.



These are the large pumpkins which people use for general autumn decorations as well as for Halloween.



I loved this display inside the marquee - all the colours and shapes of the gourds and pumpkins really appeal to me. I wish they were available in these quantities in the UK.



Rye is still a very rural place, these fields are at the bottom of the road where C & H live and they belong to R, another of their friends who will be appearing again in a later post.


Another of the lovely New England clapboard houses - originally an old farmhouse but now done up and no longer a farm.



This is a gate made by C and H and sitting at the back of their house in the fence which marks the territory of their dog. I love it, it's so quirky and totally unique.



Finally, another thing that is unique in Rye - when I am in residence, the Union Jack flies once more on American soil!

Derrick's MeMe - Not My Best Shot!

Derrick of Melrose Musings has organized a MeMe for today where we post photos that don't show our talents as photographers at their best. I have absolutely no trouble finding pictures that fit this category:) Above is a recent attempt to photograph my grandson George. The lesson here is always use the Sport setting when small children are involved!



Supposedly an artistic shot of the moon still visible in the morning sky - back to the drawing board I think....



I definitely need a spot more practice with the macro setting on my Canon - I've yet to take a decent close-up with it. I don't think Lord Snowden needs to start worrying just yet.....

This will be my last post for a while as I leave for the USA in the morning - well just London tomorrow actually. I'll be flying to Boston Tuesday afternoon, I gather the weather is OK there so I've packed shorts and t-shirts in hopes that we'll be spending some time at the beach. I'm hoping to catch the Fall colours this time too,this will be the fourth time I've tried but ever the optimist:) See you in October.