Thursday.

Above picture is of  our sitting room.  We are having motoring problems at the moment - I'm not allowed to drive (medical advice), nor is Ann for a few more days (after cataract op.)  This morning I had an appointment in the Hearing department at Sudbury  Medical centre. Our next door neighbour very kindly volunteered to run us to Sudbury. New and more powerful hearing aids prescribed. After that we went to the Market Place (today was Market Day in  Sudbury, and we all bought something. My contribution was a brace of partridges, which Ann says will be tomorrow's  lunch. Freja took the below photograph of one end of Sudbury Market Place and the church. As you can see, it was a lovely bright day, although a couple of the stall holders told me that it was snowing hard at six  this morning.
However at mid day it was lovely in the sun, but not so lovely in the shade - in fact cold and miz in the shade. We had coffee, etc. at David's just off the market place, before we motored home.

          What it is to have Good Neighbours!!!!!

Good night, everyone.

Wednesday.

 Yesterday afternoon the three of us walked into town with various commissions to execute. The first of these was to buy Ann some flowers for the  house, which I do most weeks (or as necessary). Freja and I had found some nice daffs in a bucket outside the flower shop, so took a couple of bunches into the shop with a view to purchase. The shop lady who is an old friend demurred (if that's the right word) over the daffs because they were French. She , like me, feels that the  French aught not to be encouraged. She said she was expecting some English ones in in the next day or so, and  they would be  half the price of the French ones and, of course, of better quality.  On the other hand, only the French ones were available at that point so I went against her advice and bought the ones in hand. Ann came into the shop at that point and said how nice the daffs were.  So everyone (bar possibly the shop lady) was pleased. They were in bud when purchased, but (as you can see in the above photo),  have come out completely  today, and are looking well.

________________________________

The above picture was painted by Ruth in Norway in 1991, and on a copper sheet. The four of us had hired a remote  ski cottage in Norway for a week in late May. We saw no one else during that week, saving one elderly lady walking in the forest who Ruth thought was probably a troll.  From our cottage we could hear a river. We explored and found the river about three hundred yards from the cottage. It was fed by the waterfall, and I decided on a  quick swim. I jumped in and found it was heart- stoppingly cold. Not surprising as the river was fed by snow melt water. I did a quick swim round the circular pool at the base of the fall, then was pleased to accept the assistance of Ruth and  Lasse out of the pool and onto the surrounding rocks. It was a lovely week. 

Got to go now; being called up to supper.

Good Night  All.

Sunday .

The above two photies show (top) meself, and (lower) granddaughter Freja (who is  staying on with us for a month or so -heavy work - she is  looking  after us both !!!!!!).  Freja is making very light work of sorting out my blog, too,  using the written directions Ruth left me. They seem to work for her, I'm glad to say. Sometimes they even work for  me (for  a while).   Anyway, it's all good  practice, and Ruth can see that I'm still trying - and making some headway.

Saturday.

Upper photo (lower sword) shows  antler gripped hunting sword, silver hilted, English, and dating from 1734. I know that is a very precise date, but if  you  look at the sword knuckle bow, you will  see hallmarks. They are London silver hallmarks for the year 1734.

Upper sword is of bronze, and dates from about 2,000 years B.C. It was made in Luristan (more or less where Persia now stands). It handles surprisingly well.

Friday.

This chap is Yusuf.  He lives on the back of the scullery door. He is made  from an elderly coacoanut (and one of my old work aprons) His job is (was) to deter the grandchildren from the wine racks  nearby.  I don't think this works very well, especially as Jusuf now has a rather beery, leery, (but  cheery) look  himself.

I haven't yet written the main news this week, which is that Ann had the cataract removed from her right eye on Wednesday  (she had the one in her left eye successfully  removed  on July the fourth).  She is still sporting what appears to be an unusually large monocle (a guard) over her right eye, which she'll be wearing for a day or so yet. She's also been advised not to drive for a month (and, as I've been medically advised  not to drive again, that leaves us  relying on taxis / and friends for a short times - which could be a lot worse. )


I must say that Ann seems to be recovering very well from the op already, which is great.  I'm writing a lot today, to take advantage of Ruth's new, written record, of how to  put photies onto blog entries - so far it's working quite well.

Ruth plans to return to Sweden, via London, tomorrow. Grand daughter Freja , plans to stay with us until February, which is great. They have really been pulling their weight!, as have all our family, God bless 'em!

More later perhaps.

Thursday 2.

Ruth has been working very hard and has made me a nice, clear, list of things to do when I wish to put a picture on my blog. I've just followed said list and produced a picture of the small lantern timepiece alarm I've been working on (on and off) for the last few weeks. To give you an idea of its size, it is four inches across the dial, and five and a half inches from the base of the dial to the top of the arch. I've not called it a clock, as there is no 'hour strike' - just a going train and an alarm train. I think I've done rather more than half the necessary work . I will try and take an 'after' picture when all's done. The movement is of verge type escapement working on a short (behind the clock) bob pendulum. It was made by a London maker John Pyke, who is recorded as working circa  1730 to 1745. The clock  is rather a little charmer.




Goodnight all.

Thursday.

Snapshot of second daughter, Ruth, and her eldest daughter, taken early last Sunday morning (I  think) doing their daily dozen  (exercises that is) in our sitting room, before going to Church. The  spare feet to the left of the picture are Ann's, very sensibly not doing exercises of  any sort or number. I suppose I must have been up (someone took the picture), but not too sure of anything that early in the morning.

Tuesday.

Odd incident this afternoon.  Talking to youngest grand-daughter, who's staying with us - lives in Sweden in the ordinary way, and will be 19 in March.  She is a great fan of the  Italian singer Pavarotti, who she considers was the best singer ever!  I was telling her about my  grandfather, who sang base (could sing basso profundo- very deep voice) and she was quite interested. I had several of  his old 78 records, but gave them to  Sarah a few years ago, so had nothing to let her listen to, but was telling her about the late Peter Dawson (an Australian singer), who was my Grandfather Horner's favourite. At this point Ruth  wandered off, and we carried on talking about base singers. After a bit  Ruth  came back with  her ........ well, it's a small computer..... and said "Which  of  Peter Dawson's songs did Great Grandpa Horner prefer?"  I said "Both his  and my favourite was 'Rocked in  the Cradle of the Deep",   
"That's lucky" said Ruth"because I've got a record of him singing that here."   She switched her 'Smart Phone' on, and played it, and it was better even than I  remembered it as being.  I looked at Swedish grand daughter, and said "What about that, then?"  She is a  sportsman,  and said "Pa, I think I've changed my opinion".

In fairness to daughter and grand daughter, so  have  I.  About modern electronic gadgetry, which is incredible.

Sunday.

Late in december (but just before Christmas, I think) we realised that these snowdrops were showing white. This morning, as we were leaving for Church, we realised that they were in  flower so took the above snap.

I'd been asked, by John Smith, our organist,  who takes any services the new vicar can't do, to read the Old Testament lesson. It was from the 60th chapter of Isaiah (the first six verses). Part of it reads "darkness shall cover the  earth, and gross darkness the people;"    Later in the service, during the sermon, John asked whether anyone knew  the difference between 'darkness' and 'gross darkness', and as there were no replies to this, John went on to tell us that gross darkness was one hundred and forty four times darker than darkness. After Ann had relayed this down my ear trumpet I spent the rest of the sermon giggling quietly to meself.  After the service I told John that I always learn something  from his sermons (this is true enough) and this time  I'd learnt how to  distinguish between darkness and gross darkness.

I should perhaps (in the new Vicar's  defence) explain that he has five parishes to cover , so John also has to cover four out of five Sunday morning services.  I don't think anyone really minds this because John's sermons are always  fun.

Goodnight, everyone.

Thursday.

I mentioned  yesterday that I'd bought a pewter flagon at the Long Melford monthly antique fair. Here is a photograph of the flagon. It appears to be of late 18th / early 19th century date and of Anglo / Dutch make. It has a maker's mark under the base,  a rose and crown with initials A.  G.   It is a fairly hefty vessel, standing eleven inches from the base to the top of the thumbpiece. An attractive piece (if you happen to like pewter, as I do. I'm very lucky in that Ann does, too, although I think it is rather a blokes' metal).  Ah well - some research to be done on it, I think.

I perhaps should add that pewter (like a good many antiques) has gone down  in price over the last few years, and that, after a good haggle (I know the vendor) it changed hands  at a price of £30.  Twenty years ago there'd have been a nought on the end of that. Still, I think it's probably a good investment, and we both like it.

Must knock off now and do some work. Regards to all,   Mike.

Wednesday.

Today the five of us  motored over to Long  Melford and went to Graham Turner's Antique Fair in the Village Hall.  Ruth bought a very nice pair of  late eighteenth century brass candlesticks, 'Adam' style, seamed and of a larger size than is usual-eleven and a half inches high. She is (rightly) very pleased with them. I bought  Ann a small New Hall  tea bowl, and I also bought a lidded pewter  flagon. We then went across the road to the Bull Inn and met up with an old friend for coffee. Ruth took the above photo outside a lovely  old  house, opposite the Bull. Drove back to Sudbury just after mid-day, and lunched at  a coffee bar 'David's'. Very decent light lunch but it  took forty five minutes to serve us. After lunch we went to a newish charity shop, and ALL of us found something to buy (a paper back book that I'd not read, by Ian Rankin,  in my case) so everyone was pleased.  Got home about half past  two feeling that we'd all  had a  good morning out.
Good night everyone.

Tuesday.

The above picture is one of Ann's embroideries. It is probably worth embiggening as the details are usually good. Ann hasn't done one  of  these lately as they are very  time consuming. Ruth, her girls, and Ann went out for a walk this morning, and took my camera with them to take Blog photos for me.  I've been pottering in my  workshop - doing odd jobs.

Ann,  Ruth, and the girls have just come back, as it's starting to rain, and as they  knew I'd be working downstairs in the undercroft, they also  knew I'd never see the rain, so wouldn't take the washing in. I'm afraid I couldn't fault this reasoning, but the girls ran home and got it in before the rain re-damped  it much.

We didn't stay up to  see the New  Year in last night, although I  think Ruth and  the girls did. Ann and I were in bed by about eleven, although I was vaguely aware of fireworks going off somewhere in the vicinity a while  later - didn't really wake us though.

Nearly lunch time  so  must knock off now.

Monday.

The picture above was produced by magic !  Or rather by Ruth (which is much the same thing) - She casts spells on this machine, and it usually obeys her (well, in the end it does). If I try the same thing, it sniggers, then  sneers at me, lays its ears back, digs its hooves in, and refuses to comply.  Anyway, Ruth arranged us  both in the undercroft, her fingers danced over the computer keyboard, and this is what it produced - as  I  said :- Magic!!!!  And no camera involved.

                                    __________________________________________



Been a nice, restful day. Tomorrow is the last day of the Christmas Season, and next year -2019 A.D.

                                                       _______________________
                       We wish all our readers a Happy and Successful   NEW YEAR.

                                                Mike, Ann, and Family.

Sunday

Today  our son, Jonathan, who lives near Cambridge motored across and had  lunch with us; then stayed on till evening. He has recently changed jobs (head hunted for the  third time !)   He is a scientific type - can't  think who he gets it  from. He is on the right of the above picture.

I rather  like  the new arrangement whereby Christmas carries on until the New Year. Makes the  'Twelve Days of Christmas'more meaningful.

I wish all my readers a Very Happy  New Year.  'God Bless us every one' -Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol,  I think.

Warm Regards,   Mike  and  Ann.

Saturday.

Above young lady is  junior Swedish grand-daughter.  Actually, and this  might simplify  matters, she is  our youngest grandchild.  She will be nineteen  this coming March. They do  grow up so  fast these days.  Thinking  about  it,   I'm  not  at all sure that is true. I mean, we married at twenty; and my mother, in 1941, married rather younger than that.

The photo above shows meself between the two Swedish grand daughters. I'm five foot ten inches tall, and I can quite see that these two dwarf me. They are very elegant, but I'm  not  sure  that  they are aware of that  fact. The tallest one is looking over my  shoulder  as I type, so I've just asked her if  she  agreed  with me about being aware of her elegance. She thought about that one, then said "All  that's needed Pa is self confidence, I think."  I like the answer - especially as they are both  quietly  self confident.

Friday.

Attractive young lady shown in our kitchen above is senior Swedish grand- daughter. She is  studying  sciences at Uppsala University. It is lovely having the three of them staying  here for a while. They are all three of them more than pulling their weight.  

Above  is  the  Christmas cake that Ann made, and  that above young lady has decorated for us. The decoration was done in icing sugar, then painted. Very festive it looks too. Another piece of work that above grand daughter made  is the frock that she is wearing in the photo. She really is  a multi talented youngster. I'm  pleased to say they are (all three) staying on  until about a week into the New Year.

Pretend Christmas.

I think I'd  better describe what happened to our family over Christmas. First of all there  was that daft business with the drones over Gatwick, which  eventually allowed Ruth and her girls to get to England on Christmas Eve. In the meantime we had a 'pretend Christmas' at Sarah and Mikey's from the  pre Christmas Wednesday until Saturday. Good  fun it was  too. During that time we saw all our offspring at Sarah's save Liz, who'd gone back to Spain, and Ruth's family  who were still fighting imaginary (I think)  drones. We got home just before Christmas, and were joined by  Ruth et famille on Christmas Eve, after which Christmas proceeded as usual, and as planned.

Picture  above shows Ann and I  in Sarah's kitchen.  Been a prolonged and  very good Christmas.

Thursday.

Ruth is  directing and guiding me in publishing  photos  on  blog. Above is a photo  of Saint Mary's  Church, Aldham,  about two miles away from our home- less than that as the crow flies.  We worship here most Sundays.  The  Church is a mixture of periods from Saxon onwards, and as it stands on a mound that the 'experts'  tell us  used to support a pagan temple before this church was built, it's been a place of worship for a very long time.

                                         _______________________________________

This  is not quite a mystery  object, but  a set of shelves in our kitchen. On it are mounted twenty  four  pieces of pottery. Twenty- one of  them  were made in Staffordshire. Three of  them were made elsewhere. Can any  of  you  name the three, and tell me where they  were made.  I am not a ceramicist, but  I do  know the answer; As probably does Zoe, who is a ceramicist. 

P.s. But I've  had lots of time to find  out the answers!

Thursday.

I have finally persuaded this ridiculous machine (a Windows 10) to accept a photograph. It is  a picture Ann designed and embroidered a good many years ago of the house she grew up in. The house is  in   Norfolk, on the  edge of the fens. When we were first married (in 1963) we rented the upper floor  of this house  from her father for  a couple of  years; then, some years later (in 1977, I think)  we bought the place from him, together with its Huge garden, and an acre or so of park land;  did it up (it needed a good deal doing to it), stayed there for ten years, and brought our family up there.

                                          ________________________________________

Ann's just had a 'phone call from Ruth. Ruth and her girls plan to spend Christmas with us, but, due to  dimboes playing silly  beggars with a 'drone' at Gatwich, have had to postpone their visit for a couple of days or so.  What said subtle humourists the silly beggars get out of it, only they in their total lack of wisdom, know. If I carry on on the subject of silly beggars,  I shall become heated.  More later, perhaps.

Thursday.

                                         Above photo is of  great Grand daughter, Astrid, who, together with her mother, Amelia, and her grand mother, Sarah, came and had lunch with us  yesterday. Great Granny Anny had put on a gooseberry crumble for pudding. Astrid didn't really like gooseberries, and indeed these needed more muscovado sugar, so Granny had a think  and  provided a chocolate ice cream from the freezer, which (surprise) Astrid did like, so everyone was happy.
                                        _______________________________________

It has been a very sociable sort of a  week, and yesterday we went to our friends Jill and  Keith for lunch. Also  at lunch was our old friend David and his friend Michael - no not me, but another of the many Michaels born in the 30s/40s. Jill gave us a glorious venison casserole,  followed by   a  sticky toffee pudding, then a  cheese board, then tea/coffee. There used  to be  an old  saying that the way to  a man's heart is  through his  tummy - it's especially  true if you add the word 'old'  in  front  of  man.
                                       ________________________________________

Today we continued to socialise by meeting up (at  a garden centre in Needham Market) with fellow blogger Zoe, and her husband Tim. We  had a very good beef  pie, and  picked up the threads - it had been over a year since  we'd seen them.  I'd assumed we were 'going Dutch' , but  it turned out that  Tim  was a good deal nippier on his  feet than I am, and got to  the cashier an easy 'first' - with Horner an 'also ran' - though 'ran' was pushing it.   It was lovely catching up on all the news  with  them.
After they'd gone we had a look round the other shops on the same site, and  I  found a really nice  scarf that Ann loved, so I bought it as a Christmas present for her (not having  found one yet). Being called up  for supper, so Goodnight All.
P.s. Zoe - it  was really lovely  to see you both. Mustn't leave  it  so  long till next time.