Songs with A Thousand Memories

The sun continued to shine yesterday morning so Tom and I decided to have a stroll down to the local car boot sale as it was the last one there for this year. Only about twenty sellers had braved the earlier pouring rain so it was a bit disappointing. However the £2.50 I spent was on items I am very pleased with. I bought two LPs. One Nat King Cole and one 1950s KTel compilation. Who could forget those KTel adverts from years ago! I played the 1950s one as I was preparing lunch and it did make me feel quite sad. I remember all the songs so clearly from when I was a small child. My Mum was always listening to songs and singing along and these were her favourites. I think I know the words to every one of Doris Day's songs. I look back with such happy memories of all those songs and feel sad as the days are gone.

   I always remember when I was a student nurse on a geriatric ward in the 1970s. The ward sister would have regular sing-a-longs, she played the piano in the day room and we had to sing all the old songs, the words typed out on sheets of paper, with the patients. I quite enjoyed it but half the patients would end up in tears and I never really understood why but I totally do as I have got older.
   My youngest daughter was telling me she was going along a road we used to walk down on the way to school when she and my youngest son were little. She said she could picture us walking along singing. I laughed and said I used to get them to sing with me to keep their spirits up as it was such a long road. "It was such fun" she said "I felt so happy when I remembered it." It is so strange, it's the tiny little mundane memories that matter so much. I used to feel so bad for them on cold days with the long walk but they only remember the fun. I wish I had appreciated it all more at the time
   Another item I was so pleased with was a 1970s cookery book. I'm afraid cookery books nowadays just aren't the same. Fancy recipes with 20 ingredients. This one is fantastic with pages of basic recipes and the most wonderful nostalgic retro looking photos. I can't wait to try some out. It was only 50p, and even though the cover is grubby, I can cover it in some lovely retro paper or fabric, so I'm not ashamed of it on the kitchen shelf, and it will last me years,

  Yesterday afternoon we popped into Wilkinsons and I bought some crocus and hyacinth bulbs to put into pots. I think I will plant them with Scarlett later today aswell as the rose seeds and some conkers. It's never to early to get her realising how things grow. It should all be great fun. I may just sing along with some old songs while we are doing it!
  There is a beautiful red sky this morning but I think there may be some truth in the proverb "Red sky in the morning, shepherds take warning." as I think rain may be coming later. I hope everyone has a wonderful day today and you manage to enjoy a bit of sunshine. xx

Making Something Old New Again

  Tom was working yesterday morning so I had a bit of a sort out of a few cupboards and when he got in we had an early lunch and took the boxes of old ornaments to our local charity salesroom. Hopefully someone else will want our discarded items and we set about looking for items we need. I have a painting and an old print I have been looking for frames for and I bought two nice large frames whilst I was there to reframe them. The large one was £2 and the smaller one £1.50 so much cheaper than if I bought them new. I find it is often worth buying old pictures instead of frames as they are nearly always very cheap.

   The smaller one has a message on the back so it was obviously given as wedding present for a couple from The Guiders Of North West Division. I wonder who the couple were. I hope they had a long and happy marriage. I'm going to put my print over this one but keep the original in the frame too and keep the message on the back. I would hate to take away the history of an old item.

  Two other items I found were these two casserole dishes for £3. I have an idea for making some extra Christmas presents from these with either bulbs or pansies. I'll have a little search around Wilkinsons later on today to see if I can get some ideas. They are very big and heavy so could have lots of other uses when the plants have died.

  Tom managed to get a few UB40 CDs so he was very happy and I found this Wind In The Willows DVD. My children had the video of this when they were little and loved it so I thought Scarlett may enjoy it now. I must admit I'm quite looking forward to settling down on a cold day to watch it too.!

   I finished the last of the conker liquid yesterday and noticed it had thickened up as it been left standing. All nice and clean except Tom's white sports socks but maybe that was asking a bit much! Eldest daughter has sent me a message saying Scarlett was very busy yesterday and has collected a lot more for me. I feel this may be child labour!
   We are trying to decide whether to walk down to a local car boot sale as the weather has been so bad over night.It's starting to brighten up slightly so may be worth a little mooch about. Hope everyone has a great Sunday what ever you are doing. xx

The Last Roses Of Summer

  I left again in the rain to meet my sister and go and visit our Dad yesterday. It seems to never stop raining when I am sitting around at railways stations at the moment. There were a couple of jobs we had to get done there yesterday.  One was to climb up and prune the large rose hips on a climbing rose at the front of the house. It is a beautiful old rose and this summer has been a picture of red flowers. Looking at this photo in June it makes me sad to think summer has gone for another year.

    My Dad has an old photo of the house at the turn of the century and you can clearly see the climbing rose in the photo. I love to think of all those years of people enjoying this beautiful rose. There are a few blooms left on it but has mainly now turned into rose hips high up. I manged to save several healthy looking ones and this weekend I am going to try to take out the seeds and hopefully over the winter grow some new rose bushes from them. I have never tried this before but have been carefully reading up on it so fingers crossed it will work.
   The second job was to give Millie, my Dad's rescue cat her flea treatment. Now poor little Millie has had a very bad start in life. A stray for a long time around the yard where my eldest son keeps his vehicles she evaded all forms of capture for months. If he drove back late at night he would see her in his headlamps ripping apart rubbish bags but always ran when he tried to catch her. With obvious deteriorating condition, he set about in a concerted effort to corner her and early this summer he was successful. Filthy and with her eyes stuck together she meekly accepted her fate as he bathed and cleaned her. A trip to the vet showed she had no microcchip and despite days of depressing  internet searches and asking all around the neighbourhood no owner was found. Eldest son decided it was meant to be and this little lost cat was the perfect friend for his lonely Grandad. She was spayed and the vet told him that despite being barely a year old she had already had a litter of kittens. Poor Millie what a start in life.
  She is an adorable little cat and she and my Dad are inseperable. She rules the house and I think cannot believe her luck at the comfort she now lives in. However her early start has made her very wary and when trying to pick her up or carry out any procedure you take your life your hands! A joint effort by my sister and I succeeeded and flea treatment was safely administerred but Millie wouldn't talk to us for the rest of the day.

  Finally in my ongoing conker washing liquid experiment I washed one of the dogs duvets yesterday. They have a couple of nice big duvets we put down on the floor everynight for them and they can get quite smelly so I thought it was worth a try to see how it worked. I couldn't believe, not the slightest smell of dog left on it. I am so impressed I have been out collecting more conkers to add to my next batch. Although I do have to try it on something really quite dirty to see how it works yet, I am definitely going to keep using it on less dirty items. 

  Well I can't believe another weekend is upon us already. I hope everyone has a lovely one what ever you are doing. xx

Entertainment With A Retro Twist!

First a report back about yesterday's washing with conker liquid. An initial success! I chose washing that wasn't too dirty except one of Tom's shirts that was a bit grubby around the collar and washed it on a 30 degree wash which is what I would normally use for an only lightly dirty load. When the washing was going round and round in the machine there was not a bubble in sight and I was prepared for it not doing anything. However after only a 30 minute wash I was pleasantly surprised. The washing was fresh and clean. Although there was no scent, it smelt fresh and definitely soft. The grubby marks on the shirt collar had all gone. Youngest son and daughter were amazed and frankly won over. Today I am going to have a go with clothes a bit dirtier and see how I get on.
  In my quest for a more ordered household I'm always reading about ways of decluttering. Always reading never really succeeding! I came across one website recently that made me realise how stuck in the past I am. They gave a list of things no one has in their house anymore. One of the things they said to get rid of was CD's as everything now can be listenend to digitally. I know this is true but Tom loves his collection of CDs and is always trawling jumble sales and Car Boot Sales for new additions and I am even further back with a large collection of LPs and singles I still have from the 70s and early 80s.I even have a collection, of dare I say it, music cassettes I listen to on a little 1970s cassette player (rescued from a skip!) with the cassettes stored in this lovely orange cassette case I bought at a jumble sale for 50p.

   Another item was filing cabinets. It said scan all your precious documents and store them on the cloud and no more lists and wall calenders, just write them on your phone. Oh dear the one and only time I tried to copy what my eldest daughter always does and write a list on my phone I couldn't find it when I arrived at the shops and as for important documents in the cloud. I'm not even going to comment. The final item on the list was DVD's. Now I would have probably agreed with this until recently. At the beginning of the year we had a clear out of a lot of DVDs as we had subscribed to Netflix this time last year. Recently when I was going through our bank statement, I noticed the Netflix payment of £5.99 a month. "Do we really need this?" I asked everyone. Youngest son? "No never watch it." Youngest daughter? "Ocaasionally, but I'm not really bothered. Get rid of it if you want." "What about us?" I asked Tom "Oh yes we use it." He said "We watched all the episodes of Merlin earlier this year." "That was last year." I said. When I thought about it that is all we have watched. We really enjoyed it again but I could have bought all the series for about £20 secondhand on ebay instead of the £72 we have paid over the last year to Netflix. That's it, Netflix has gone.
   So rather than decluttering to live in the 21st century I have decluttered any up to date bits. I'm probably just not in the modern world really. I suppose I could set up a little business as a vintage entertainer using my retro items to play music at weddings and vintage events, Yes there really is such a thing. Well it's a thought!
  The sun is shining here though I'm not sure it will last. I hope you get a bit of brightness what ever you do today. xx

The Eco Friendly Conker Washing Liquid

What a lovely day it was yesterday. The sun shone and I felt very productive and cheerful. After my second operation on my thyroid they told me I may never be able to sing again but even though I was very croaky in the early days I can sing fine, well as well as I could before anyway! When I catch myself singing away whilst I am doing things I am always very grateful. It's funny the things you take for granted in life. Anyway aside form me singing all day I managed to get lots of little jobs done in the sunshine and after lunch I started on the job I was looking forward to most.
  I put aside half the conkers I had to experiment with my horse chestnut washing liquid with, which was a nice little hoard. Thank you very much Scarlett!

I started bashing with my hammer as the instructions online had said but with conkers flying and dogs barking it wasn't as easy as I thought.  However with a bit of experimentation and the use of an old towel I got a rhythm going and it started to work.I found using the claw part of the hammer and hitting dead centre was the most effective. "It's a good job Scarlett can't see what's happening to her precious conkers" youngest son commented as he walked past the kitchen. I had intended to put them in my Mum's old Magimix as the instructions said but they are so hard I was a bit worried about damaging it so I just kept bashing.

  Only a short time later the conkers where all in a satisfying pile of small pieces and I removed any loose outside bits, although the instructions said you don't need to, and then put them in a Kilner jar.

  Then I poured very hot, but not boiling, water over them level to the top of the conkers. Different sources say different amount of times to leave them soaking some say four hours and some say overnight.

  I left mine overnight on the kitchen windowsill and this morning strained the liquid through a muslin into a bowl.

   I poured the liquid it into a smaller kilner jar and here it is. It's a bit more watery than I imagined it would be but maybe that's because in my mind I am picturing Persil liquid! The proof will be in the using but youngest son and daughter have said "You're not practising on our clothes!" and who can blame them. 

  I'll try it out today on some of mine and let you know how I get on. Hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx

Keeping Dogs With A Small Eco Pawprint

It was a sunny start yesterday morning, but by the time I was leaving to meet my sister and go to visit our Dad it was pouring again. However with the way these showers are at the moment when I arrived in Ashtead there was bright sunshine again. My Dad wanted to visit the garden centre to buy some plants for a gap in the flower bed where he had been cutting back and we mananged to fit in a cup of tea and cake there still in warm sunshine. Chrysanthemums bought we headed home with dark clouds approaching and just as we arrived back to his house the rain really set in. It poured and poured! Luclily my sister dropped me off at the station but by the time I arrived at Sutton the trains were all ready being delayed and cancelled. I managed to get my connection but I didn't envy the passengers standing around on lots of the other platforms. I hope they finally got home as the rain carried on heavily for most of the evening.
  I popped into the shop by the station to buy some gravy bones as a treat for the dogs as yesterday was Bud's 13th birthday. Or at least the 1st of October is the day Battersea Dogs Home chose for him as they didnt know is exact age. Bud is a Border Collie and the oldest of our dogs.

Then we have Cassie the Yorkshire Terrier who is 6. Here she is looking very smart out and about in her winter jumper!

  After our beagle Poppy died two years ago we decided to get another dog as Cassie missed her so much and Bud has always been rather aloof. So we got Tess the Border Collie puppy then a couple of months later out of the blue Layla the Springer Spaniel arrived. My eldest son took her from a couple he knew who were going to put her on the secondhand selling site Preloved at a very cheap price as they just wanted her “out of their flat” as she was “bonkers”. He was horrified and told them that it was a very bad idea as she could end up anywhere but they didn't care. Less than four months old she bounced into our life with a string of previous owners and names on her inoculation certificate. Staying for the weekend before my son was going to take her to springer spaniel rescue, we decided we never wanted her “out of our house” and she has settled in perfectly to her new four dog pack. Tess and her have bonded beautifully and are like partners in crime, the happy youngsters who were meant to be together. Here are the naughty pair!

   However feeding four dogs well is no easy of cheap task. We have always fed our dogs tinned meat with mixer meal supplemented with scrambled eggs and vegetables. Not only was this extortionately expensive for four dogs, I was horrified at the pile of tin cans in the recycling bag outside our house each week. I always worry the quality and source of the meat in these tins and for some reason with poor Layla, who has a sensitive stomach and because of her early stresses a nervous disposistion, it just goes straight through her.

   We are lucky enough to still have a fantastic local butcher who prepares pet mince. It is a mixture of the off cuts of all the meat they prepare which is all from sources they are sure of the high quality of and reasonably local. It is certainly not the rubbish, it looks delicious when we cook it! We either feed it raw or put it in tray at the bottom of the oven when we are cooking our meal. They love it both ways. It costs £1 per kilo which although not the cheapest option for the quality is very reasonable. We give them rice, pasta, vegetables or scrambled egg  with it, what ever we have in the cupboard.

  The dogs are looking fantastic, glossy coats, bright eyes and best of all Layla’s wind and diarrhoea has disappeared.  Since the end of the dogs eating a highly processed meat diet which has been transported miles their carbon paw print must have been greatly reduced. Not only this, the dogs are clearly happier and we are also supporting a brilliant local business 

  And finally Cassie who was feeling so lonely has found a new friend to cuddle up with!

  Happily this morning is a lovely start and apparently it is set fine today so I am off to catch up on lots of little jobs that need doing. I hope you all have a great day what ever you are doing. xx

A-Foraging We Will Go

It was a much brighter start yesterday morning so after breakfast Scarlett and I set off for the morning before the promised rain arrived in the afternoon. I had a couple of bags of old clothes to take to the recycling bank and a bit of shopping to do but once that was out of the way we went to a local park for the real mission of the morning. Scarlett just loves collecting things when she is out and about. Twigs, feathers, leaves, pretty stones, they are all brought proudly home to display. This autumn however has bought a new obsession in her little two and a half year old life. Conkers! My eldest daughter has bought her a little basket they call her "foraging basket" and she couldn't be more excited. Scarlett's latest obsession has coincided with my interest in learning about foraging for food, so it was with mutual excitement we started our search.
  I have been reading about making washing liquid for laundry from conkers so thought it would be a perfect time to collect enough to try. It was a really enjoyable way to spend our morning.

  I told Scarlett we must leave enough for other people and for the squirrels to have some food this winter. Coincidentally only this week there has been reports that the Horse Chestnut Tree is under threat and may even become extinct in the future following declines caused by the leaf-minor moth so next time she comes we will plant a few in pots to grow some trees. I already have two lovely horse chestnut trees in pots that I grew a few years ago, one of which that is now taller than me, but no harm in planting a few more.

  Scarlett took some home with her and the rest I have sitting in the dining room waiting for me to make the liquid detergent with later in the week. I will share how well the experiment in my new foraging lifestyle goes. 

Happy 1st of October everyone. I hope your day and the month ahead is a happy one. xx