dear Mum ...

Ten years have passed, and it only seems like yesterday.
I love you Mum, and really miss you.

A Twitter friend of mine sent me these thoughtful words and a big hug - Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear.

o

Remembering Mum ...

on her birthday.

Bright are the stars that shine, dark is the sky.

o

not my photo!

John Lennon ...

My Mum was a fan of John Lennon.

Today would have been his 70th birthday.

Can you believe it?

Right now my Mum would have been 70 too.

It's difficult to comprehend.


We chose to play Imagine at my Mum's funeral.

I do my best to avoid listening to it.

Apart from today.

It's getting easier.

o

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it was an ...

itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka dot bikini ...

Wasn't I so the cutting edge of fashion, wearing blue polka dot bottoms!

I could do with them today, not forgetting the top half!

It's a scorcher!

This is me and my 'big bro' down on the coast, back in the late sixties/early seventies?

Click on the photo above, to hear a crackly old recording of this classic tune on You Tube.

o

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bittersweet memories ...

The photo above taken in 1950, was in the belongings of a Great Aunt, who passed away this month at the age of 93.

From the left it shows her father John (who I knew as Gampy), and her mother Ethel (who I knew as Old Nan), who passed away many, many years ago.

From the right is my Nan Iris, who is no longer with us, and my Grandpa Eric, who at the age of 96 is alive and well, and lives in Mallorca.

The young girl in the middle (aged 10) is my lovely Mum, who sadly passed away this month back in 2002.

Old photos are bittersweet, a mixture of both pain and pleasure.

o

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anyone for a cup of PG ...

More often than not I 'oom and aah' over making a purchase, but when I saw this set of miniature tins in TK Maxx for the bargain price of £3.49, I didn't hesitate.

Tiny containers of loose-leaf tea showing three Icons of England, a London bus, a postbox and a telephone box.

I most probably won't use the contents, as in our house it's teabags!



Back in the 1960s before Brooke Bond introduced bags, loose-leaf tea was all you could buy.

Mum was always into the latest trends and had one of those plastic wall-mounted tea dispensers, which gave a measure of tea for the pot.



Like many families growing up in the 1960s/70s, money was invariably in short supply. A few pennies could have been saved by buying a cheaper brand of tea, but Mum always bought PG Tips so we could have fun in collecting the cards. The suspense of finding which card was tucked down the side of the packet, and the disappointment when discovering you already had it!

I can't ever remember completing a set?

The Tipps!

o

A family of chimps who were made to dress up and drink tea. This long-running campaign of ads are some of the most popular of all time. If you click here it's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. A certain removal man, in the name of Mr Shifter!

o

o

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the importance of being a Mum, a Dad, and a friend, love and happiness ...

The sun is pouring through the window and it's March 4th, the date my Mum and Dad got married, back in 1961.

How time flies. Today they would have been celebrating 49 years of marriage. That's if they hadn't got divorced, and Mum hadn't left us for which I hope is a place where the sun shines bright.

When a marriage breaks down it ends, when someone dies, time somewhat heals, but grief and sorrow can show no sign of an end.



One mustn't rely on support, but it is gratefully accepted when it's received.

That's were blog friends come in.

Look at that cute bunny above!

Lisa from Periwinkle recently lost a very close friend.

She came up with the brilliant idea of making cute egg-cup cosy bunnies, with the consent of the pattern owner, with all proceeds going to his charity fund.

Aah look! After e-mailing Lisa with a special request for one with yellow stripes, she made a custom, custard cosy especially for me!

This bunny is sitting next to two items of my 'modern' yellow Cornishware. Ones which I cherish, ones which Mum gave to me after visits to what once was, the factory shop at Church Gresley in Derbyshire.

If you have yet to discover Lisa's skill with knitting needles take a look on her blog, or better still take a look in her shop on Etsy.

To have this bunny in my home makes me very happy!



As, I am sure regular and long-term readers of my blog know, my Mum died, on a sunny day very much like today, of secondary Breast cancer.

She was happy when in remission, but became very depressed and dispondent when she lost the use of her dominant arm, when cancer cruelly spread to her bones. Never being one for giving up, she gave up.

The subject of cancer is one very close to my heart.

That's where blog friends come in.



Back in October, a good blog friend of mine over at Life in Red Shoes, who leaves 'witty' comments over on my garden blog, was holding a Pink giveaway to highlight the fact it was Breast Cancer Awareness month.

She asked for comments from those touched by breast cancer. After reading her very emotional and touching account of losing a best friend, I left a comment. This is the link if you would like to read it, but do have a handful of tissues at the ready.

Look, yours truly only went and won!

Not only did I receive the giveway of a set of emaculately hand-made dishclothes and a set of potholders (another cleverclogs knitter), enclosed was a lovely card, and little bags of seeds collected from flowers from her garden, for my garden.



Love is a difficult word to define.

The word love, of which I confess to using in blog world in a rather indiscriminate manner, can mean many things.

This is the card I sent J as his Valentine. Now, I love him to bits!

I thought you might think it sweet, and as a gesture of blog friendship, and love in a different shape and form, I send it to you.

We haven't kept every card we've sent each other over the years (too much stuff lying around the place does my head in), and what is a lovely cuddly bear, who is is happily surrounded in pink love hearts, will inevitably end up head first in the blue bin!

But not blog friendships, I do hope!

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bashed neeps, and the Christmas in February giveaway winner ...

I haven't ever been sure whether a neep is a swede, or a turnip?

For this post, it's a swede/rutabaga (US) of which I love, bashed with a knob of butter and black pepper.

Why a photo of a swede?

It's because the smell and taste of swede always reminds me of childhood Christmas dinners at home. We'd always have mashed swede, along with a huge roast turkey with sausagemeat poked under the skin, and Paxo in the cavity, roast potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and thick Bisto gravy.

Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day! Only ten of you thought so, and left a comment on my Christmas in February giveway post, for a chance of winning a copy of the Hamlyn 200 Christmas Recipes book.

I asked what you had for your Christmas dinner? All comments were fun to read, and considering it was February your memories hadn't been affected by the sherry!

Anyway all ten names were scribbled on a piece of paper, torn into shreds and put in a dish. The winning name pulled out was ...

Amanda and Tim!

Congratulations to you.

I think you are going to enjoy trying out recipes from this little book.

o

my music memories, 1970s ...

Which waveband was your family radio tuned to?

In our home it was Radio One on 247, playing all day, every day. Remember Junior Choice with Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart, Noel Edmonds on the Breakfast Show, David 'Kid' Jensen and Dave Lee Travis, the Hairy Cornflake! Mike Read, Peter Powell and Simon Bates' Our Tune?

Remember the portable cassette recorder, and recording the Top Forty on a Sunday afternoon, stop/starting at the beginning and end of every tune. Losing your favourite tape when it got all caught up and tangled around the spools!

Remember the music centre, in trendy plastic casing! When songs were cut on vinyl, singles played on forty five and albums on thirty three.



Remember the Disco 45 songbook, with all the latest lyrics? Look at the price, 5p! I bought every copy, from Issue No 1 until the time came when it was taken off the shelves. Then one day I lost my marbles and binned them, every single one of them!



I also remember buying the Words songbook at an increased price of 15p, well, inflation was a big thing in the 1970s! At the time when a David Bowie calendar shared my bedroom wall with The Police!



I really liked the magazine Smash Hits, my collection starting from Number 1 to whatever number it was when it dawned on me where would I find the space for another copy?

I'd love to get to hear any music memories from your childhood, or who you had plastered to your bedroom wall during your teenage years!

o

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granny's seed cake for Halloween ...

I have lots of memories of my Granny, one of them being her Seed Cake. Why I've waited so long to make one I don't know. I waited in anticipation, and once cool enough to slice, it tasted just as I remembered. It uses Caraway seeds, and Caraway seeds to me are an acquired taste, and not particularly a taste a kid would like. Did I eat it out of kindness, or did I screw my face up with the first bite? I don't remember.



I don't know what became of Granny's cookbook. The recipe I used for my Seed Cake came out of The Best of Good Housekeeping, 1973 edition. This book belonged to my Mum, and I remember this being the only cookery book she would ever use.

Recipe

40z butter or hard margarine
8oz SR flour
a pinch of salt
4oz caster sugar
2 beaten large eggs
approx 4 tbsps milk
1oz of caraway seeds - once weighed, 1oz seemed a lot, I decided on 2 tsps

Rub the fat into the flour to resemble fine breadcrumbs, add salt. Stir in sugar and caraway seeds. Mix the egg into the dry ingredients and gradually add enough milk to make a dropping consistency.

My Granny used a round tin, I used a 2lb loaf tin, setting the oven temperature at 160c and baking until golden brown and springy to the touch.

With money I had for my birthday, I treated myself to the lovely green mixing bowl in Cargo Homeshop in Chichester. It's big and heavy, and only cost £10! I was so annoyed with myself recently as I allowed my trusty, vintage, worth a pretty penny, TG Green Easimix mixing bowl, with a pale blue inside, to fall out the cupboard and smash to pieces!



Whilst piling through recipes on the internet, I discovered that in one small corner of the Midlands region of the UK, Seed Cake was the traditional food to be eaten on October 31st.

The article also states varying recipes, something I discovered too. Hannah Glasse, in The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, published in 1805, uses yeast. Mrs Beeton, in the Book of Household Management, published in 1861, uses eggs and butter. The recipe I used has the quality of a Madeira cake. Somes recipes include ground almonds, this would have made my cake more moist. Candied peel can be added too.

Caraway Seeds are often partnered with rich foods that are not easy to digest. My cake, turning out a little dry around the edges, was a tad difficult to digest, with the caraway seeds getting stuck between my teeth!



I remember my Mum was always baking. Her, The Best of Good Housekeeping compiled by the Good Housekeeping Institute, shows all the signs. Grease marks and cake mix on The Family Cakes/Biscuits and Cookies pages!

o

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crabs, donkeys, postcards and silly hats ...

Happy days!

Me and my brother having fun by the seaside, early 1970s.
u

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port isaac in cornwall and mum ...

I love this photo of my mum, looking rather impish, thoroughly enjoying a treat of an ice-cream cornet! This would have been taken in the latter years of the 1940s when cream was still generally unobtainable. Ice-creams would have been based on substitutes, particularly evaporated milk, which was obtainable on a points system, or a mix of this and 'cream' made in a cream-making machine. Walls advertised ice-cream during the second world war with a 'Keep Cool, Keep Calm' campaign!

Today I spent some time looking through old family photos again! My mum passed away on a day very much like today, a beautiful, warm and sunny day, on the 5th of April 2002, so to have these memories of her in these photos, is so important to me.



Here, my mum is pictured with my uncle, granny and grandad in June 1958, on a beach in Wales. Over the years, many a holiday was spent together on the coast, often staying in the West Country.

I discovered a set of photos taken in Port Isaac in Cornwall, I'd imagine again taken in the late 1950s? These may be of some interest to anyone who originates from this area.



This one looking down from Tregarock Hill, having a Spring theme with the little lamb in the foreground, being quite interested in the camera lens!



This one looking down Fore Street. Enlarge the photo and you will see an ice-cream sign selling Walls!

I remember as a child, when staying in Port Isaac back in the 1970s, a kleptomaniac jackdaw followed us along streets like this, taking many a swoop down on me. It was after the shiny buckles on my shoes, for its ever expanding collection!



No information written on the back of this one! I do like the crookedness of these adjoined properties.



The Harbour, which reminds me of the TV series Doc Martin!



Chapel Street. I wonder whether the chapel was, or still is, at the top or the bottom of the hill?



The Harbour wall and small area of sandy beach.

I wish I had had these photos with me on a return visit to Port Isaac just a couple of years back. The next time we go, I shall take these photos along, to compare what, if anything at all, has changed?

For those of you who know Cornwall well, I would be so interested to hear of any information you may have of this area?

photos from The Woolworths Virtual Museum

that's the wonder of good old woollies ...

I don't know about you, but I want Woolworths to stay as it is, a shop which sells good quality products at reasonable prices, and offers great value for money. Don't get me wrong I love to mooch around the top end shops, but I rarely buy anything, my pleasure when it comes to spending is to grab a bargain or two?



Who else remembers the sweet counters in Woolworths? One memory of mine as a kid back in the late sixties, early seventies, was standing marvelling at the vast expanse of sweets (pic 'n mix) in the Worthing branch. On occasion, my grandparents would take me and my brother into town, and if my memory serves me right, after deliberating for ages we were allowed a bag each!

Steve, this is for you -

The immaculately polished white Hillman Hunter!

Parking outside the Berkeley (such a long trek into town) - revs of the engine and several maneouvres!

The flask of milky coffee in the glovebox, to drink before coming home!



Who else remembers the display of vinyl 45s and 12 inch singles on the shelves of Woolworths? Back in 1981 when I was studying a secretarial course at college, my friends and I would pop into the Broadwater branch most lunchtimes, and on most days I would come out with a single or two, many of which now have a home in the loft!

Click on The Woolworths Virtual Museum for lots more memories, remember Winfield their own brand?

Let's hear of any memories you may have of good old Woolies!

oh I do like to be beside the seaside ...

Remember this?

How I used to love these public information films back in the 1960s/1970s, and this couple Joe and Petunia proved extremely effective in raising awareness that HM Coastguard is a 999 emergency service.

Petunia is enjoying her Mr Whippy, I love them too. Did you know that Margaret Thatcher worked in the laboratory of the factory perfecting Mr Whippy icecream technology. Her job was to establish how much air you could pump into the mixture before it collapsed!

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anyone for tennis ...

The photo above shows my paternal Grandad back in the 1930s wearing his tennis whites. As a child I remember my brother and I being allowed to take both his and my Granny's wooden rackets out of their presses and use them to knock around a ball on the drive. After use they would always be put back in the press. I wonder what happened to them, maybe my Dad or Uncle still has them?

We are nearly at the end of Wimbledon fortnight. I must confess to not following tennis to a great extent these days, I have been completely put off watching the game by the increased use of grunting. I really can't listen to it!

Run by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon is regarded as the premier tennis tournament in the world. It is also the oldest, dating back to 1877. The first championship was a small event more comparable to a garden party than to a national tournament. Around 200 people attended, in contrast to the thousands that attend every year nowadays. Traditions at Wimbledon include a rule that players must wear all white, and that they must curtsey or bow if the Queen or Prince of Wales is present. Another unofficial tradition is the eating of strawberries and cream.

Quiet please, Wimbledon has been voted a British Icon.



Above is a photo of my paternal Granny in her tennis whites and sporting a very nice slave bangle and peak cap. I love both these photos. The late 1930s were the golden years for British Tennis, with Fred Perry and Dorothy Round taking the titles.

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your daily pinta ...

I remember the cheery milkman, that figure in cap and apron, who used to deliver our pintas whatever the weather, every day apart from a Sunday. I remember the clatter of the crates jumping up a foot in the air as the milkfloat drove over rough ground. I remember Mum stuffing an envelope of cash into an empty silver top bottle to be collected on a Saturday. I remember blue tits pecking off the tops if left outside for too long. Have you any memories of your milkman from your childhood?

If my memory serves me right we used to have six pints of milk delivered some days, what did we do, bath in it! Looking back though Mum used to make a lot of puddings, rice pudding, custards and blancmanges, and remember junket? Dad would have Weetabix mushed up in milk every morning for his breakfast, usually bagging the cream from the top of the milk, yuk!



On our recent trip to Middle Farm we discovered in the milking shed, a huge collection of the old advertising milk bottles from the 1970s, remember these. I was in my element going up and down the rows, saying remember this, remember that. It doesn't take much to make my day!



Remember the Humphrey straws you could buy containing milkshake powder which you mixed into milk? That would be the only way to get me to drink cold milk. Remember the milkman leaving free Humphrey stickers? Sticking them to anything and everything in sight!



Remember Farmer's Wife, a small range of essentials you could get off the milkman? Please click on the link for a reminder from Ernie the milkman! Remember the Dairy Diary mums used to put an order in for every year. They have been published for well over 25 years now and you can still buy them today!

What a service one man and his battery-operated milkfloat could deliver. Only one household in our close still has a milkman, do you?

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it's amazin' what raisins can do ...

Remember the advert from the 1970s for the chocolate bar below.



Amazin' Raisin bar - (cockney pie and mash type song) "Its amazin' what raisins can do/All that goodness and its all fo' you/You just 'ave ta do what ya gotta do/It's amazin' what raisins can dooooooooo... Oi!". A Cadbury concoction of raisins and chewy stuff and rum!

Anyway I am getting a bit side-tracked here, which is nothing unusual. What I was going to start off this post by saying, is that you can't beat the sun shining through the windows to get you motivated. Yesterday was such a glum day and I had no incentive to do much at all, but today, well it's a different story altogether. Already I have commented on some blogs, done the housework, baked a cake and made this delicious flapjack in the photo above. After I have had a quick coffee break, written this post and eaten the piece of the flapjack that is missing from the photo, I am going to get out and attack the garden!

The flapjack is made using Dorset Cereals fruity porridge. Him indoors rarely shops, usually only when he needs emergency supplies for his fishing expeditions, but the other day he came back with three boxes of this stuff, purely because the Co-op had marked it down to half price! I don't like it as porridge with milk but he has a bowlful every day before he leaves for work. Even so it will take quite a time to get through this lot, so I thought I would help out, by making something in the way of naughty.

Well he does need help in eating it before it goes past its sell by date!

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cheese 'n pickle anyone ...

This is what I am going to suggest we do over the extended Bank Holiday, that's if we don't get the rain that's forecast for the weekend.

The picture is taken out of Lucie Attwell's Rhymetime book, thought I'd share it as it is so cute. The car reminds me of a yellow MG my mum had.

Whatever the weather I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Louise x

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beautiful cherry tree cottage ...

This is the cottage my grandparents lived in for many years, I wonder why they didn't have a pale pink front door? I spent many a Saturday morning here with my brother as a child. I have so many happy memories of this place, I don't know where to start. Here are just a few naughty things me and my brother used to get up to, don't forget we were very young!

Rolling marbles from the top to the bottom of the stairs!

Hiding a hard bristle brush underneath the covers on my grandad's side of the bed!

Planting water bombs on top of granny and grandads' bedroom door!

Here are some more sensible memories!

Watching cult viewing, Pipkins, The Banana Splits and The Double Deckers on their TV!

I would get a spelling lesson from grandad without fail every week. We would sit in the sunroom which was sandwiched between the kitchen and the workshop. Don't ask me why but the spelling of the word onion sticks in my mind to this day!

Once granny took the lid of the pressure cooker too soon and rice pudding exploded all over the ceiling!

We would have prunes and custard and granny had special dishes with rims around the edge to place our stones!

I would play washing-up standing on a stool at the kitchen sink!

I took great pleasure in tidying up granny's store cupboard, putting tins in neat rows, much to my Mum's annoyance!

Granny would make her own cream in a cream-maker. It tasted like Nestles, yummy!

Granny and grandad kept one tin especially for sweet biscuits (pink wafers and Nice) and one tin for savoury ones (Cheddars and Cream Crackers)!

I have told you this one before. Granny's Birds trifles were always on the slant!

I wonder if my brother can remember any more?

This post was inspired after seeing a lovely photo of cherry blossom on Carolyn's blog Willow House.

I'd love to hear of your special memories of your grandparents?

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baah ...

Happy May Day everyone!

These two must be quite used to having their photo taken, today they were enjoying basking in the lovely sunshine. Unfortunately I have missed the famous Lambing Time at Coombes Farm in West Sussex where this little woolly pair live, lambing time is between March 15th - April 20th. I did hint but the reply was, it will be too busy! Anyway I took the opportunity today to pop up and take some photos before they either get too big or end up on someone's plate!

I now have this photo as my desktop to look at when I log on. It reminds me of a recollection of mine.

A year or so back while driving through Exmoor in Devon, we stopped the car in a carpark to put the kettle on and whilst it was boiling on the stove, I stood by the fence to observe the sheep, something which surprisingly in my 43 years I haven't ever done. What I noticed is how a lamb, split up from its Mum manages to find her again amongst a field full of other lambs and sheep. Quite a commotion was going on, a bleat here and a baa there from this little lamb and the same coming from some way in the distance, well I didn't know that every lamb and its Mum must have a baa which each other recognises, because eventually the little lamb picked up on Mum's radar, and the next thing I knew it was bounding off across the field to be reunited with her. I will never forget this amazing sight which brought a tear to my eye, and a memory I shall never forget.

I needed a cuppa after that and a strong one too!