the police ...

I was a huge fan of The Police when I was 15 and I confess to having lots of posters stuck in my locker at school and a large poster on my bedroom wall. I was interested to see where their return tour dates were being held and the price of the tickets, anyway I discovered at Wembley Arena the tickets range from £45 to £95, a little different from the £3 I paid back in 1979!

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the teddy bear book ...

I love this book, it was a great find from a table sale for 50p. Full of lovely photos and information on English, German and American bears; there is also a chapter called bear care on how to repair and clean, also how to store with this great picture of a little bear wrapped up very securely in a brown paper papoose, as you can see looking very snug indeed!

just like mum used to make one ...

With the cold winter ahead and the necessity for warming meals after a hard day, I thought I would share with you some simple, old fashioned hearty meals just like my Mum used to make from my childhood days. Most of the meals will include meat, so apologies to any vegetarians out there, I was brought up on a farm where eating meat was the norm, even my Mum was a vegetarian before she met my Dad, a farmer!

I know how many TV chefs harp on about how it is quicker to make a dish from scratch and cheaper than buying ready meals off the shelf, but I agree with them, and homemade does taste much better and is much better value for money, especially for those with larger families. We all try to come up with excuses to warrant buying ready meals (I dish them up when I am really pushed for time), but more times than not there is no excuse not to use good basic ingredients.

I often get put off by recipes in cook books as I rarely have all the ingredients they suggest in my store cupboard to hand, so most of the time I just cook simple, quick meals using few ingredients.


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This really does taste better than it looks!

We like liver, but I understand that a lot people are squeamish with the mere mention of offal, I don’t particularly relish it in its raw state but hey you are not eating it raw.

How to make lovely Liver with bacon and onions
I use pigs liver because I prefer it to lambs, fryed in a deep stir fry pan after first sauteing a large onion, then adding half a pack of smoky lardons and then the liver, to cook as desired, then I just make up a thickish gravy mix and add, along with plenty of black pepper, no salt as there is enough in the lardons and gravy powder. Served with new potatoes on this occasion but also lovely with mash, baby carrots with their skins on and frozen peas, no fancy ingredients here, what could be simpler (going to Tescos and picking one off the shelf, I hear you say)!

Served in a Pyrex dish just like mum did!

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orrefors perfume bottle ...

Orrefors Glasbruk is a glassworks in the Swedish village Orrefors in Smaland.

Orrefors has been making crystal and fine glass for over 100 years. Glass that has become famous all over the world for its creative design, its exquisite craftsmanship, and the excellence of its form and function. Orrefors glass is created by a close-knit team of designers and glassblowers who are masters of their craft. Together they create pieces of beauty and practical functionality that will long retain their value.

This is one of my favourite finds on ebay, a beautiful art glass Orrefors perfume bottle from the Amour range, just perfect as I love hearts and I love glass. To the top of the stopper it measures 5 inches high and takes pride of place in my boudoir.

durrell on jersey ...

We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world. Gerald Durrell 1925-1995

In 1959 Gerald Durrell set up Jersey Zoo (now known as Durrell) at Les Augres Manor in Trinity. Durrell breeds rare animals from all corners of the globe in captivity with the aim of releasing them back into the wild, they also fight hard to preserve the creatures’ natural habitat. Durrell also runs a number of projects that aim to preserve the local environment and wildlife with considerable success.

I really enjoyed visiting Durrell on our recent trip to Jersey, I had previously visited when it was still known as Jersey Zoo on a school trip back in 1977 at the age of 12, a lot of changes must have taken place since then. I especially wanted to visit the Gorilla and Orangutan habitat, I have always had a fascination with apes.



Me in 1977 aged 12 (note the Radio 1 247 teeshirt bought from the Roadshow)



The Gorilla


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The baby Sumatran Orangutan

We had lunch in the very inviting Dodo restaurant, we were sensible and had soup and roll, but there were other hot and cold foods, and of course lovely tempting cakes and cookies to be had. If you ever have a trip over to Jersey I can recommend Durrell for adults and kids alike, we easily spent a morning there but you could spend the whole day.

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steiff bear ...

If you would like a few bears but have very little space to give them a home, collecting miniatures is the answer, I only have a handful, the smallest being 4 inches and the tallest being 7 inches, but I am pleased to have them, they are so sweet and each has its own individual character!

Meet Gainsborough, my favourite bear, he is the tallest measuring in at a staggering 7 inches standing and wears a short-pile coat, he has a small hump on his back and fairly long arms, beige pads with four black thread embroidered claws on both hands and feet, small jet black button eyes just outside the face seams, which is an identifying factor of Steiff, and a horizontally stitched nose.

Steiff had a major setback in the 1970s, a falling birthrate cut the market, and cheap Asian imports brought competition. Steiff tried out cheaper toys without success, but by the end of the decade the ‘great bear revival’ allowed them to go the other way producing more expensive ‘super-bears’.

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cornish yellow ...

My love of Cornish Yellow started with a ‘bargain buy’ at a local auction by my lovely late mum, thinking it would be for herself, but true to nature like many a thing, ended up in my possession – a lidded salt pot. I now have 50 original pre-war items after making frequent visits to collector’s fairs, flea-markets etc, I hasten to add no great finds at jumbles or boots, but some items I did buy ‘at the right time’ for ‘the right price’. These days the older pieces are really too expensive to buy so I have resorted to buying modern Cornishware which I use everyday, storage jars, pudding bowls, pestle and mortar, a great clock and a cafetiere (now only brought out on special occasions since seeing one sell on ebay for £70.00)!

I don't keep salt in the pot as I don't use table salt at all in cooking, it stands empty.



Yellow Cornishware is generally unlettered. The lettering is transfer printed even though the letter spacing is sometimes erratic and suggests hand-painting. A number of styles have been used, including at least two serif faces typical of the 1920s. Later, a sans serif face began to take over, with the last serif names disappearing in the 1960s.













Cornishware no more ..?

The sole survivor of South Derbyshire's once proud pottery industry has gone into administration. TG Green was established in 1864 by Thomas Goodwin Green and the distinctive Cornish Blue kitchenware was introduced in the 1920s. TG Green was the only manufacturer of the world famous Cornish Blue pottery range, which is avidly sought by collectors across the world and I for one will really miss not having the opportunity to buy Cornishware be it old or new.

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pippa doll ...

A short while ago whilst clearing out his loft, my Dad unearthed some boxes containing little girl items from my childhood days, needless to say after having been up there for what must be over 30 years everything was somewhat grubby. Luckily these two dolls and their outfits have survived relatively well considering many years of neglect, along with this pair came some extra outfits, some of which survived a cycle in the wash, some didn’t make it, and numerous accessories.

Some interesting facts I discovered about Pippa on the internet:
She had an oval face with painted eyes and eyebrows. The thick eyelashes were made durable by two or three painted strokes. However, the well-detailed ears of the doll were located a little higher than those of normal humans. The nose of the doll was slightly upturned. All Pippa dolls wore pink lipstick, except for Mandy who had a peach-coloured lipstick. Most of the Pippa dolls had waist–length, straight and silky hair. The colour of the hair ranged from blonde to black. This doll had flexible joints on all her limbs. Her hands had other intricate detailing lines such as the love line, the life line and finger nails. Besides, her palms faced down. Her toes had no details.

Do you remember Pippa?