A Coronation Cake

 Making A Coronation Cake

I am making a large cake for a community event to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles 111.

I have started with a crown made from sugar paste (not fondant) to decorate the cake . This will dry and harden for 3 weeks and I shall make the 9 inch and 6 inch cakes just before they are needed. I find that Betty Crocker mixes made with melted butter works well when large quantities are needed for catering for a lot of people.

                                                              

I have based the cake design on one by lucyssugarshack which can be found at

                                                                 http://hobbycraft.co.uk

Needlefelted Easter

 

Needlefelting for Easter

I have been looking for a new craft to try, I have not felt like returning to the drawing and painting that I did before Covid . I have found a new creative textile  craft ,needle felting. Here are some of the eggs and Easter themed things I have made. It is easy to store the materials and calming to handle the lovely wools that I have bought. I sell my results to raise funds for charities supported by a local church. They also make pretty gifts for family and friends.

Eggs to hang on a tree 

Chickens

Colourful Hens

How to Needle Felt

See my book reviews on the subject at 

 www.jan-arts.com where instructions on how to needle felt are given.

Ordinary People(2)

                                              

     

                                   Return to England

The 1901 census finds Mary Elizabeth Green and her six children  in Northampton, England. They were living in a Victorian house built like many  others to  house the workers in the recently established surrounding clothing and shoe  factories .The industrial revolution came late to Northampton ,previously most work was done at home but the invention of the Singer Sewing Machine changed  the speed and ease with which boots and shoes could be stitched. Mary named the house Parammatta ,a suburb of Sydney in memory of the time they spent in Australia.

From this house Jimmy worked as a tailor, Mary as a forewoman in a shirt factory  Henrietta as a shirt cutter, and Aggie as clerk in the shirt factory. Their father had trained them well and their skills enabled them to find work and flourish. In 1902  the factory girls sent Mary a letter of appreciation .

                                     

The Green children grew up  remaining a close knit family .Aggie, Jimmy and William  and Henrietta (my grandmother) married and had their own children. This is them enjoying a picnic in the long hot summer of 1913 with their spouses unaware that the storm clouds were gathering before a war that was to change many lives.

                                            

The pasted in picture is probably of Julia. The old lady is Aunt Sarah, sister of the late James Green. Henrietta is not in this photo, she has problems of her own to deal with, more of this later.

About 1906 Mary bought a a corner shop which gave her an source of income and she could leave the job in the shirt factory. She was a thrifty, hardworking woman who gave support to her family and friends .Her housekeeping was legendary  and the last batch of bread that she baked was consumed at her own funeral in 1944.

I can just remember her in long skirts and a large white apron when I went to tea with her on Thursday afternoons.

This family history will now continue through the life of Henrietta (Etty) Green .

Ordinary People (1)

I am going to continue this blog with my family history. This is about ordinary people, their successes failures loves and losses. 

                            

                            A Colonial Adventure

                   

                                   England to Australia 1885                        

In 1885 my great grandparents James Green and  his wife Elizabeth were living in Coventry and working as a tailors. They had three children Jimmy, Aggie and Henrietta .Life was hard, the industrial boom of the early Victorian years was over ,loss of respectability and the work house constant threats. Encouraged by the highly coloured statements of emigration touts they were induced with assisted passages to try their luck down under in Australia.

Mary Elizabeth had her photograph taken before they left  .This costume showed off their tailoring skills supported by a painfully tight corset underneath.  

                                                               

                               

After a long sea voyage they arrived in Newcastle, Australia, New South Wales eventually settling down in Adamstown. They set up a tailor's store , making working clothes for other immigrants. They had four more children ,Willie, Kitty ,Nellie and Julia .The children learned to cut fabric and sew. They went to a local school, Henrietta was a bright little girl , her photo was taken as the only girl to win a prize.

                                                          

       After ten years of everyone working hard , they made enough money for a visit home to England in 1894  .But tragedy struck when their youngest child, Julia, became ill and died suddenly .Shocked by this loss they buried little Julia in London Road Cemetery in Coventry and returned to Australia to carry on.

                

                        On their return they were photographed outside their shop.

                                                           

James Green, Jimmy, Henrietta and Aggie, Mary Elizabeth, Willie , Kittie and Nellie above.

At some point James joined a Friendly Society. This was a wide decision for on 29th June 1898 he died in Camperdown Hospital from exhaustion and pneumonia aged forty one.

                                                                

The Friendly Society

It is likely that the Society helped Mary to sell the business pay for the long voyage back home to England accompanied by her six children and with James' body on board The Augusta . They could only afford the cheapest berths near the boilers where they were constantly covered in smoke and soot. On arrival home James body was interred in the same grave as Julia. Their colonial adventure was over .Mary's priority was to find her family employment and avoid the workhouse. 

                                                        

                                                    

Cambridge City Hazards

 Every area in the UK has now been put into a category telling the inhabitants what they should do to avoid spreading Covid19.The problem is that only Liverpool seems to have received precise instructions and everywhere else is waiting until they receive further information. We are clueless in Cambridge.

It is disturbing to learn that expert scientific advice was given to the government to take much sterner methods on 21st September .Once again Boris Johnson  is behind the curve .He might decide to order a major lockdown from 24th October. What a mess this man is. He appeared on TV with his peroxide bleached hair visibly dropping out of his skull looking as one journalist noted "as if he has had a fight with a cat"

We have had three holidays cancelled ,the few days in Aldeburgh we have booked in early November look as if they might be cancelled now.

We went into  Cambridge  city early this morning to get an influenza jab followed by a coffee and delicious pain au raisin in Patisserie Valerie to help me recover. 

The University students are back and in my view represent an immediate threat to the citizens. Wandering about in large groups, not wearing masks they think nothing of shoving old ladies like me in to the gutter to avoid stepping aside. Some use the city streets as their personal running track, breathing heavily and puffing all over other pavement users. There are plenty of parks and open spaces available to them in this city.

There are other sources of infection too, the Big Issue sellers shouting at passers by, no masks again Outside supermarkets are carefully placed aggressive beggars, no distancing and no masks .Doorways of empty shops are full of rough sleepers with mounds of filthy bedding , stinking of urine and accompanied by flea infested dogs. A few minutes  observation will soon inform you that many of these people are actually drug dealers and addicts.

The authorities do nothing to clean up and deal any of these issues.

Poppy Brooch Kit

The poppy brooch crochet kit has arrived, so has the instruction book I sent for from Amazon, it is incomprehensible resembling instructions for constructing nautical knots. By the far the best instructions can be found on YouTube.

                                       

   

What Next?

 This morning I got up in good time to go to church ,we can have real services again at last, no singing allowed but we have an excellent organist who plays an extended piece at the end of the service  so we can enjoy the pleasure of live music.

Although we have to wear masks and sit spaced apart it is good to take part in a real activity with real people instead of the suspended reality of doing everything on a screen.

I am dreading tomorrow in case the ghastly Boris Johnson orders old people like me and my husband into the  open prison system known as sheltering.

In anticipation of this I have sent for a book on crochet with the intention of making some poppies to wear 11 November, Remembrance Day. A company called Deramores is selling patterns and make a contribution to The British Legion from the sales. I went to Hobby Craft yesterday and stocked up on sewing materials. Something to do when there is no gardening to be done and too much baking makes me fat.

I have not done any crochet for years .I remember my grandmother crocheting shawls for every baby that came along .As her eyesight became worse with increasing age the crochet stitches got bigger and bigger, by the time she was ninety years old the holes in the shawl were almost as big as the baby.

I shall also have a look on Youtube, there are instructions on there on how to do just about anything

 This is the link for poppy crochet pattern:                                                      

                                                     www.deramores.com

                                                                     

If you want to raise money for the British Legion and are in touch with people you can sell things to they have all sorts of ideas and fund raising packs you can send for.

This is their link. It takes a minute or two to connect.

                                                 

                                             https://www.britishlegion.org.uk

When I have had enough of everything my default position is  in front of the television. My favourite programme just now is White Teeth ,adapted from the book  by Zadie Smith, currently on Netflix. Hilarious. 

                                                                                     

                                                   

This should make Grandmas smile: Tap Your Troubles Away - John Wilson on Broadway

Covid19 October 2020, Seven Months On

 

I have returned to this blog after starting it seven months ago.

I almost certainly had the virus back in March, caught in a local shop when an assistant coughed all over me. This was before wearing masks became mandatory. The cough was terrible and my lungs sounded like they were full of popping candy. After feeling ill for four days my doctor prescribed anti- biotics and wished me luck. I felt very ill on day five and even packed a bag in case of hospital admission. I have never done that before .

After a sleepless night I started to feel a bit better and the fever broke.

I gradually improved but the cough hung around for several weeks.

This is a serious illness and I can see why it is a killer of the vulnerable and those with health issues.

Do not fool around with it if you are elderly.

All you are being asked to do is stay at home at look after yourself. 

If you have a pension and a comfortable home consider yourself lucky .It looks as if many of us in the UK are going to have more lockdown restrictions on Monday.

It is hard, I have not seen my son since last January and have seen my grandchildren and daughter only once since March.

Our planned holiday in Tenerife has been cancelled three times. We are not going to attempt travel overseas until there is a vaccine.

I do not want to find myself sitting next to a silly old fool like Stanley Johnson without a mask on a small aircraft for four hours.

I have given up painting and drawing , the thought of art works piling up with nowhere to exhibit them or sell them is too depressing.

I have bought several new recipe books that accompany TV series,

baking is soothing and at the end of of you have a treat to eat

Today that is going to be a Tea Loaf from Mary Berry's Comfort Food recipe book.

                                         

                                        

It should be served sliced thickly and spread with lots of butter. In my case it will be a low fat spread.

Surviving The Corona Virus At Home 2

Saturday 14th March 2020


The Genie is Out of the Bottle

We are not in total lock down yet in the UK but numerous places around the world are.Many elderly friends, like me are avoiding crowded public spaces.We have been discussing what we are all going to do at home all day and avoid dying of boredom or go mad watching endless daytime TV with increasingly pessimistic news bulletins .
This is the time to explore the attics of your mind,revisit some of the things your have enjoyed doing in the past, set some new challenges,turn your attention to some of the things you have put off doing.

Don't go on a cruise.

1. Getting your affairs in order.

You may want to check  your will with your solicitor and make sure that you leave your stuff to whom you want to leave it to.
Leaving instructions about how you want your funeral conducted in the way you want it could be done too.
Arranging for care of your pets in case you are temporarily too unwell to do it yourself may lessen anxiety.

I am not going this far at the moment but I am going to tidy my house. I do not want others to see the state of my knicker drawer.

2.Reading.

This is the time to reread those lengthy volumes you struggled with the first time around.I have been given an app called Audible as a gift.This means that I can choose books available as narrations by well known actors, it is very restful to be read to.The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens is my choice at the moment.I have just ordered Hilary Mantel's latest volume in the Woolf Hall series.

I shall not bother with Moby Dick.

The Seige by Helen Dunmore is a good survival novel about how the citizens of Stalingrad survived when the Nazis tried to starve them out from 1941 -1944 with the focus on one family.
                                                      

                                                    

Monday 16th March2020                                         

3. Getting Outside       

I cannot believe that we shall not be allowed outside if we are reasonably fit and virus free.The days are getting longer and getting up early  when then are not many people around would be a good time to walk dogs,go for a run or stroll in the fresh air.Some shops, notably Iceland are going to open up early ,about 8a.m. and have a shopping hour exclusively for the elderly when shelves have been freshly replenished and not ravaged by greedier members of society.
Other stores may follow their example.

Gardening can soon begin in earnest.I have a tiny  city back yard patio , everything has to be grown in pots .Last year I managed to grow herbs, tomatoes, salad greens,and runner beans all from seed using a plastic mini greenhouse to start them off.
This year I shall grow more vegetables, flowers can wait , a back yard supply of fresh veg will save shopping and may be a life saver if supplies in shops get harder to find.If you can't get to a garden centre many supplies for home growing are available online and can be delivered to your door.Time spent outside  in the sunshine improve your mood and general health.

Consider having an Amazon Prime Account .Free deliveries of goods  and access to Prime Film Services and Music have been worthwhile for me.

4.Watching TV

This will be a way many of us will pass the time.Because I was confined to the house for long periods following knee surgery I stumped up for Netflix and Sky.I have found the variety of programmes offered very enjoyable.
Look out for old films on Free to Air .Those old black and white movies like The Cruel Sea and Rebecca are great to watch.I know we must keep up to date and be aware but continuous  news about COVID19 can get depressing and alarming.

Staying In Touch

If you are reading this you are probably computer savvy. Set up Skype or Zoom so that you can talk to friends and family.
The thought of not seeing my children and grandchildren for months fills me with despair. An electronic conversation is better than none.




                                              

                                                 

                                   


                                 

Staying At Home, Corona Virus Survival for Oldies.

12th March 2020

Get Over it or Die Quietly? 

Any day now old Grannies like me are going to be told to stay at home ,keep out of the way and either get yourself well or die quietly.I have given a lot of thought to the getting over it option and I am going for that.Just in case we die I am making sure that I have next of kin, doctor and lawyer telephone numbers in a handy place for my nearest and dearest.

What about sensible  stocking up without panic so that we can stay at home without going out for a couple of weeks?

First, establish an account with a supermarket company that delivers.I have been using Tesco for two years ,they were brilliant  when I was recovering at home from knee surgery and offer a huge range of products.It is easier for older people to have this service and not struggle round shops putting themselves at risk of catching the virus from other shoppers.It also avoids public transport which is full of coughing passengers and snot encrusted kids. Sainsbury, Asda, Ocado and Waitrose are other companies who will deliver to you from an online order.

They can leave the goods you have ordered by the front door, that way you can have access to fresh food if you become ill.

What to stock up with?

Many people have bought mountains of toilet rolls.I am not sure why.

Think about what foods may run short.

As many people become  ill they will not be able to do their jobs.

Bakers may not bake, dairymen may not milk the cows, fruit and veg pickers may not collect from the fields,truck drivers may not be able to deliver to the supermarkets.

Will suppliers of electricity and gas,water and sewage be able to continue as normal? I have no idea.

Food I have bought in moderate quantities

home bread making kits

strong flour and yeast

long life milk

coffee mate

tea

coffee

soft drinks

breakfast cereals

cans of fruit and vegetables

dried fruit

biscuits

canned meat and pie fillings

fray bentos pies

ready meals for the freezer in case I am not well enough to cook from scratch

cheese

rice

pasta

I have a small hydroponic unit in the kitchen for growing fresh salad
pet food

Cleaning materials especially those that kill viruses (Dettol products are good on this).

Enough laundry products to last for about a month including laundry disinfectant.

What medication to buy  is a worry. I have no medical qualifications so this is not advice,just a list of what I have bought.

Paracetamol, throat pastilles and some Olbas oil to use  in an inhaler cup.Although I have also tried to make sure I have a supply of my regular prescription medication my Doctor's surgery has just gone into lockdown, repeat prescriptions available today

Personal Care

A stock of items for  personal care must ideally include hand sanitizing gel and hand wash.Bath and shower gel 
toothpaste and oral care
shampoo and other preferred hair care products

Now I am going to have a nice cup of tea