Stupid Friday

Oh dear daily blogging has been messed up again as I have been missing in action since Thursday.  I have had a few busy days.

Friday was a real mess up day. Remember that I said I was going to Coralie's for sewing? Well there was no sewing.  Basically I had got the date round my neck.  I set off at half past eight in the morning.  Caught the bus and was put out to find the return bus fare had gone up from £3.85 to £4.60.  I got off as usual at the Paul Pry pub just before you get into Peterborough city centre.  Denise picks me up from there but she wasn't there.  Unusual.  It was 9.35am.  At 10am I concluded that she wasn't coming!  I couldn't phone either her or Coralie because I had no mobile.  I had checked my bag for my mobile before I left the house.  Hadn't noticed that the case was empty!

I decided to get on the next bus which luckily was a Bretton Centre bus.  Coralie lives in Bretton.  It cost me £1.60.  When I finally got to Coralie's she was very surprised to see me. Seems that sewing is this coming Friday!  How was I supposed to know that when her email on Monday had just said sewing on Friday?  It was lucky she was in.  Another 5 minutes and she wouldn't have been.

I had a couple of hours with her, just having coffee and a bit of a catch up.  I left at midday to catch the bus to the city centre so that I could get the 1pm bus back out here to the sticks. That cost me another £2 from Bretton to the city.  When I got there I had to ask a member of staff which bus stop the Delaine buses go from as I couldn't remember. I have only got the bus from there a few times. He told me bus stop 9.  Little did I realise at that point that I had made a grave mistake in saying the Delaine buses and not being more specific.  I wonder why he didn't ask me which one?.

I thought it a little odd that the only timetable was for the 202 to Stamford so asked another woman there if the 101 to Bourne goes from here?  She said it did.  We got chatting.  1pm the Stamford bus arrived.  A few minutes later the 101 went sailing past.... WTH?   It would seem that the 101 does not go from stop 9 but stop 4!  I was so cross.  They only go every hour so I had a whole load of time to kill and I was going to be much later back than I wanted.

I went and had a wander around the Queensgate shopping centre.  Then I made sure that I was back at the correct bus stop at a quarter to two.  I didn't want anything else going wrong. Needless to say it did.... when the bus came in and I boarded, I couldn't find my return ticket!  The ticket that I had in my hand an hour before.  I had to purchase a single which cost me £3.75.  That made a grand total of £11.95 for the day! By the time I finally reached home at just gone 3pm I was well and truly fed up. I had spent over 3 hours on buses, 4o minutes standing in the freezing cold and it had cost me a fortune as well.

When Simon got home an hour after me and asked how sewing had gone I could quite cheerfully have throttled him!  We have now changed the plans for this week and Coralie and Denise are going to come to me.  My dad will be here so it should be quite nice.  Who knows I might even get some sewing done.

I'll be back tomorrow to report on my weekend.

Mums scrap book, taggies and bum bags

It is that time again!  I have to show you what I have been working on this week.
First of all another tiny bit of bunting for my hall.  1979 is a significant date for us.  It is nearly 33 years to that significant date....... in fact it is on Saturday!  I did actually make this a few weeks back and I think I did show it before but it has only just made it up on the wall.

The next thing I am really quite chuffed with.  It is a bum bag or fanny pack as you Merikans call them.  I think I said the other day that I needed to make myself one of these to carry my doggie biscuits when I am at the kennels. I found a pattern to print and some instructions on Tip nut. (That is a great site). It hardly takes any fabric and I made it out of this dog print.  It has a pleated bit on the front so it actually will hold quite a lot.  It also has 2 pockets inside and a zip across the top.  I am dead pleased with it and it was much admired by the other volunteers on Saturday.  I shall be making some more to sell on the craft stall next summer.

I Mentioned in the week that I had made a taggie or ribbon blanket.  My friend Phyllis said how she remembers having a proper blanket that was bound with satin and she used to love to stroke it.  Years ago blankets all seemed to have some sort of shiny, ribbon binding and I guess that maybe that is where the idea for taggies first came from.  Mine is a very small one.  The kind they sell for babies to keep in their cot as a comforter type thing.  It is 12 inches square which is roughly what the ones in the shops are.  It was made from scraps and ribbons that I have gradually collected.

This the front side

This is the reverse which is lovely soft fleece fabric.

I have finally finished the scrapbook of my Mums life.  I am pleased with how it has turned out.  I think it will be quite upsetting for my Dad when he first looks through it but that is natural. I hope that he will  be pleased with it and cherish it.  I put a lot of work into it and it was emotional for me too.  When I decided to do it, I thought it would be nice if we all had some input so I asked my sister and my kids and my niece if they wanted to do pages. I knew the boys wouldn't.  Out of the rest, 2 never even bothered to reply to my email  and the others said yes but despite my asking them several times to get a move on........ they didn't!  You know what?  I am glad now that they didn't.  This is my work, all mine and I like it that way.  This is a photo of the album that I got and then there is a slide show of the pages.

I have only just started using the Windows movie maker so it is a learning curve.  I am  getting in a pickle getting the effects that I want.  The music isn't really right either but it was all that I could find.  I wanted "somewhere over the rainbow" but I don't have it on my computer.  It doesn't really matter of course as I only did the slide show rather than post 24 individual photos.

I should really have done another one as I now have 16 more brooches to show you!  Skip to the end if you are bored with brooches!  They fascinate me as every one is different. I like making them and they are selling well on EBay. One woman purchased 16 of them this week.  Yes, 16!  What the heck do you do with 16 little brooches?

The other thing that I am working on right now is the baby quilt.  I got it all pinned together yesterday and did a tiny bit of the quilting, around the heart and straight lines along the sides of the squirrel squares.  I am going to attempt to stipple the borders this afternoon.

I also need to start on a small surprise present today.  My friend Kathy in Merika is doing a Christmas craft swap. Basically we exchange something that we have made.  I am quite excited, it is a great idea.  Got to get on with it though as I am not sure how quick it will get to her.

Right, off to do a few jobs now and then I can get cracking on the fun stuff.

Happy Birthday Sam.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Samuel

Happy Birthday to you.

Photo taken at one week old.  He has grown a fair bit over the last 32 years!

It is really hard to find any recent photos of Samuel as he hates having his photo taken.  So instead I thought I would show you  a self portrait. He was 6 years old when he did this.

Want to see some more of his school work? 

Hope you have a great day Sam

Love Mum and Dad

xxxxx

Sempringham Church

My blog on grave cleaning on Monday reminded me of another church that we visited back in the summer.  It is called St Andrew's, Sempringham and we found it by accident.  We were just coming back from somewhere, I forget where now, when we saw signs to this church.  It is  not too far from us. Just past the village of  Pointon and before you reach Billingborough.  Sempringham was a hamlet that was mentioned in the Doomsday book.

Anyway we saw an old sign pointing up a track seemingly into a field which said Sempringhma church and something about a princess. We were intrigued as there was no sign of a church. We decided to investigate so headed up the bumpy track. Once around the first bend we caught our first glimpse of a church in the distance. It is the most lovely place. It is actually nearly 1 mile along this track before you arrive at the church. It is an idyllic spot, so peaceful. It is surrounded by fields. I have posted a Google map on Google Plus which will show you the location.

This is part of the track.

The church is the church of St Andrew and it is a Norman church. It is built adjacent to the site of the old St Mary's Priory founded by the crippled priest St. Gilbert in about 1139 The priory was destroyed in 1558. The church was originally larger but a Norman chancel and transept were taken down in 1788 after becoming dilapidated, leaving the tower unusually at the east end of the building. A priest's door was also removed and in 1899, the arch was returned and incorporated into a new porch that was designed to protect the original Norman door, a project that was carried out to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. It is a very pretty church. Unfortunately we were unable to get inside. They do have a service there about once a month and it is also possible to arrange to meet someone there with the key so you can see inside. We had planned to do that but I guess it is something for next year now.

The other claim to fame is the link to the mediaeval Princess Gwenllian, daughter of Llewellyn, the last true-born Prince of Wales, and the only grand-daughter of Simon de Montfort. She was held captive here for more than half a century. Gwenllian was born at Abergwyngregyn in Wales on 12th June 1282 but when she was only 17 months old, Edward 1, fearing that she was a threat to himself, wrote to the prior and prioress at Sempringham, the Gilbertian Abbey asking them to admit her to the order and habit.

Gwenllian died on 7th June 1337 after 54 years of virtual imprisonment by the order.

In 1993 a stone and slate memorial was erected as a tribute to the princess. It was financed by the Princess Gwenllian Society of Wales. Apparently it is regularly visited by Welsh pilgrims and was even blessed by the Bishop of Bangor.

The history of this place is just amazing. Trying to picture it back in the days of the imprisoned princess is hard. It would have been very isolated back then. As we stood looking up at it and then looking round at the surrounding countryside we tried to imagine the lives of the people that would have worshipped there. Imagine..... they had to trudge over a mile from the main road along a dirt track in all weathers. Probably a lot further as there is little housing nearby. Amazing.

Phyllis and Cindy you would just love this place.

Ok, off to do some jobs now.

27th November

I had a nice day yesterday. It was Simon's day off.  We went out early in the morning to go to the main post office to collect a couple of parcels.  A book for him and some lovely smelly bath bombs for me.  We stopped of at Tesco for a quick food shop and then Jewsons for some stuff to mix in with concrete to make it water proof.

Simon spent his day out in the garage .  He was putting the concrete along the edges to seal them.  He also painted some wood for skirting boards.  I was joking when I asked him recently if he was going to have coving, skirting boards and a dado rail.  Seems the skirting isn't a joke.

I spent my day happily in my sewing room.  First I was parcelling up some brooches that I had sold on EBay.  Once that was done I got down to work on the scrap book of my Mum's life.  I am pleased to say that it is now finished.  It was quite an emotional experience and I had some tears but I am very proud of it. I will try to get time to photograph it today so I can show you. With that completed, I worked on a few brooches. I am low on stock!

Today is going to be a busy one.  With Simon at home yesterday I didn't do my normal jobs.  He totally messes up my routines.  I have no idea  what will happen when he retires completely.  The house will be a tip. So I have the whole house to clean and tidy plus a full laundry basket to get washed, dried and ironed.  The basket is always full on Monday as I do all the bed linen and towels as well as the normal clothing and stuff.

I am hoping to have some time this afternoon to get some more sewing done.  I want to get Verity's baby quilt  finished this week.  Time will tell.

Oh, by the way, are you impressed with how many blogs I have got done this week?  Every day since last Monday except Saturday.  I think I may have found my blogging habit.

Oh and a weather forecast for Morton, Lincs............ Freakin cold, very windy and RAIN.

Grave cleaning

OK, so after yesterdays quite negative blog ( those outlaws do wind me up!) I thought that I would post some stuff  from back in the summer. Strangely it actually relates to Simon's family.  These are his ancestors though so nowhere near as irritating to me as his current family.  I didn't have the "pleasure" of meeting these!

His ancestors on his fathers side came form Horbling and Billingborough which are villages just up the road from us. How odd is that?  We end up living in the same area as they did. Horbling and Billingborough are both quite nice villages.  We visited them many years ago when I first started out on the family history trail.   In fact, we have lovely memories of that first occasion when it was our son Samuel who found the first "Glenn" grave.  I vividly remember him jumping up and down and yelling across the grave yard that he had found a Glenn!  He was more or less dancing on the grave!

Since then we have visited the churchyard several times.  We went back again earlier this year as we are now so close.  The graves had deteriorated quite a lot so we made a vow that we would go back in the summer and clean them up.  We had to wait for a rain free day but we did eventually make it there with bottles of water, a pile of rags and some brushes. We went to Horbling church first which has the most Glenn graves.

We spent several hours  cleaning up and they looked so much better when we had finished.  We even found 2 new Glenn graves which we had never found on previous visits.  While Simon was cleaning I was just kind of kicking around and as I did so I uncovered what I thought was a GL.....  I got Simon to come and clean and hey presto... 2 more Glenn's.  They were grave stones that had fallen over and so were pretty much covered up. It is a shame that they can't be re-erected. Still we did our best to clean and preserve what was there which seems important somehow.

While Simon was doing more cleaning I had a wander around and came across a strange sight.  It was a fresh grave of about a week old.  It was a 15 year old boy and in fact we remembered reading about his death in the local paper.  He had died in a motorcycle accident even though he was not old enough to legally ride a bike.  What was odd was that amongst the flowers was a really large teddy bear, about 3 foot tall.  The teddy had a giant cigarette in one had.  I don't mean a real cigarette.. it was all part of the toy.  Very odd.  The teddy also had a bottle of beer in it's other hand.  It didn't seem at all appropriate for the grave of a 15 year old lad who had died in a bike accident.

Anyway, here are some of the Glenn graves.

After we had finished cleaning we went to the vicarage to ask for the key so that we could go inside the church.  That was something we hadn't done before.   It is a lovely church,  really interesting..  There are graves inside that date back to the mid 1600's.   I do quite like old churches.  They have an atmosphere. I guess it is the centuries of history.  There is some nice stained glass at Horbling church too.

 Churches and Cathedrals are the only place where I like and can appreciate stained glass.  I do not like it anywhere else.  I really do not like modern stained glass. Simon's mother rather fancies herself as a stained glass artist and once gave us a circular piece in red, blue and yellow.  It was pretty revolting.  However it hung in our upstairs landing window for years before we moved.  Somehow it seems to have got lost.  I think it was never taken down from that window and therefore got left behind.  I certainly never took it down and Simon can't remember.  How lucky is that?  Since we moved here she has presented us with yet another bit which is of trees.  In other words modern.  Just the kind I hate.  I didn't want that adorning my house so Simon has it in his garage which is fine by me.

Back to the grave cleaning.... once we had finished at Horbling we moved on to Billingborough.  The villages of Horbling and Billingborough more or less run into each other and I think they did even 200 years ago.  The Glenn's originate form Horbling but there are several buried at Billingborough and in fact we know that one of them was the school master at the village school too.  We spent the rest of that day cleaning up the graves at Billingborough church.  We were unable to go inside there so that is something for another time.

I hope that you enjoy looking at the photos. They remind me of one of the better days of the summer. A day without rain!  If any of you are interested in your family history and have ancestors from this area then I would be quite happy to check things out for you.  We are able to visit churches and grave yards in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and probably other counties too.  Just let me know if you need some information  or have a church that you would like us to visit and explore on your behalf.