Autumn activities and traditions

We made Autumn box gardens. It was Squidge who insisted we made these, she'd got the idea from one of her library books. Squidge and I had lots of fun collecting all the leaves and twigs and whatnot. Once Chatterbox saw Squidge's box she wanted to make one too!







Perhaps this will become a new autumn tradition.

Speaking of autumn traditions, when I was younger me and my mum used to make Jack O'Lanterns with swedes (no I don't mean Swedish people I mean rutabagas which are known as swedes (swedish turnip) over here!). This is the first year I've bought pumpkins. I thought they'd be solid like swedes, so I planned to make soup or whatever with the innards. So I was very surprised to find they are pretty much hollow! The Jack O'Lantern is a product of an old Irish folklore tale (well as far as I know it is!) :) In case you're wondering, I know the Jack O'Lantern is now associated with Halloween, but we just made these for fun.



Another Autumn tradition is the game of conkers. We collected loads after church from the horse chestnut tree across the road from church. It's very hard to collect conkers in heels! We used some to decorate the garden boxes and we saved some for the game. Hubs is going to get us some string.




Lovely and shiny aren't they? Horse chestnut isn't edible. You know I've never had sweet chestnut!

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Blackpool Illuminations.

Today after pancakes and cleaning out under the stairs we went to Blackpool to visit the illuminations. It took hubs ages to get the above photograph, we set the camera to night mode and then we had to put it on a fence to keep it steady as it took about 30 seconds for the exposure. It turned out well, but it wasn't worth faffing about for 30 seconds to try to get every photo looking this good.

The weather was a bit ominous as we travelled there and there was a torrential downpour. But by the time we'd parked up it had all cleared up.

Here are some of the tableaux. Our camera is not great with night-time photos so many of them haven't turned out.

This one (above) says, 'Jesus Light of the World'

Blackpool is a seaside resort, it's not the most upmarket place and is the haunt of many hen and stag nights. But it's fun for children and has the Pleasure Beach with lots of roller coaster rides and other attractions.

This is the 'Big One' roller coaster - you can just about make out the carriages on the big drop.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

This is one of the decorated trams

Squidge wearing a headband with dangly pink things and ribbons that sparkled with little lights.

We had a great time, but I'm exhausted now. I should be in bed really, but hubs is watching Alien and I keep thinking, "An extra hour in bed tomorrow" (here in the UK the clocks go back an hour tonight).

What to do with pumpkin?

Flickr

Pumpkin is not a British staple. But supermarkets have started stocking it in recent years during autumn. Today I bought my first ever pumpkins. So, what is it best for? Can I put it in a stew or casserole?

Books

My books

I've stopped reading 'Am With You Always: True Stories of Encounters with Jesus' by G. Scott Sparrow. I skimmed through and read a number of the stories, which the author claims are a collection of dreams, vision and 'visitations' to various people by Jesus. The author is a psychotherapist who has an interest in the spiritual and in mystical aspects of faith - not just Christianity. So he wasn't necessarily writing from a Christian perspective. This made me wary but I continued to read out of interest.

Now, I do believe that we will experience dreams and visions from God:

And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: Joel 2:28 (quoted by Peter in Acts 2:17).

And I do believe that God will work amazing miracles in people's lives and He will speak to us in many ways because He is a powerful, loving and supernatural Father God Who takes a personal interest in our lives.

But,

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

A lot of the visions and dreams in the book sounded like the sort of crazy dreams I have that make no sense and are just your brain taking a little holiday! :) Yet the author treated everyone seriously as if they were clearly a message from God. One or two were inspiring and moving stories of healing and blessing, and I don't claim that all the stories were false or dubious. But some of the visions/dreams were downright creepy.

In one vision a figure appeared in the sky and when the person asked who it was the figure said, "Some call me the Buddha and some call me the Christ, who do you think I am?" To which the person replied, "I believe you are the Christ."

In my understanding I'm sure that God came in the flesh once for all in Christ Jesus - Who is the ONLY way to the Father. I don't believe he has come as various 'deities' since then. I don't understand all the truth of God but I know He doesn't lie. God doesn't speak with a forked tongue. So I don't believe the Buddha is God or Christ.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:23-24

Therefore either this person is either mad, dreaming, lying or has been visited by a lying spirit.

There was another story of a woman who was unhappy in her marriage. Then she believed that Jesus appeared to her floating over her bed and told her to get a divorce. Again, the Bible tells us that God hates divorce and Jesus only sanctioned divorce in the case of unfaithfulness (which wasn't the case for this woman).

So it's in the bin (I asked permission to throw it away because it wasn't mine, I found it on the church bookshelf). I've no idea who put it there, lol.

I'm continuing to read Taking Your Place in Christ by Mark Hankins, I really feel I need to remind myself who I am in Christ and the wonder of knowing him. So it's good for me to read right now.

The Children's books

I have FINALLY finished reading New Term at Malory Towers with Chatterbox(if you remember this is the sequel to Enid Blyton's series written by Pamela Cox). Oh it was soooooooo boring! But Chatterbox enjoyed it. We are now reading the wonderful The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston. I love this book and hope that Chatterbox will love it too.

Squidge is reading a variety of library books at the moment, including a mermaid story book, a book about space and the planets and some other books. But is most of all loving reading a craft book, which is where she got the idea for painted eggs and making a garden in a box from.

Hope you've had a lovely week.

Happy reading!

Oh half-term where did you go?

Britain's bread hangs by Lancashire's thread.

Yesterday, we visited Queen Street Mill in Burnley. It has a fine example of,

"[an] original Lancashire boiler, the 500 horse power tandem compound steam engine “PEACE”, the line shafting which runs throughout the mill and the 19th century looms connected to it."

It's a fascinating place. It continued to work until it was forced to close in the 1980s as it was unable to compete with cheaper manufacturing methods. The working steam engine was so interesting, particularly watching the man setting it all up.

They have many old looms and other weaving paraphernalia. The history is fascinating, looking at the old working practices and the equipment.

A working day in the Victorian mill started at 6.00 am, at 8.00 am they had half an hour for breakfast, then at 12 noon they had an hour for dinner, then the looms worked until 5.30 pm. They worked a six day week - but they finished earlier on a Saturday.

I was rather amused by this old 'rules' poster from 1851. So I bought it on a printed tea-towel.

"If two persons are known to be in one Necessary together they shall be fined 3d each; and if any Man or Boy go into the Women's Necessary he shall be instantly dismissed."

"The Masters would recommend that all their workpeople Wash themselves every morning, but they shall wash themselves at least twice every week, Monday morning and Thursday morning; and any found not washed will be fined 3d for each offence".

Fascinating and rather amusing. With all the fines for this that and the other I'm amazed that they managed to actually make any money. The workers were paid for piece work, that is they were paid for the amount they produced. If anything broke down or if the steam engine wasn't working then it was the workers who suffered.

Instead of working until a task had been finished, and then taking it to the employer's warehouse and picking up new work, factory workers' lives were governed by the clock and by the need to produce as much as possible during their long working hours. They were paid according to the output of the machine. Printed rules were pinned up to maintain work discipline, and people were fined for late arrival or for breaking the rules. Children were sometimes subjected to beatings for falling asleep over their work, especially in the early years, when some were contracted out by workhouses as 'pauper apprentices' and badly abused. BBC

The cotton mills employed a large female workforce.

Throughout the period, a high proportion of factory workers were women (more than 60 per cent of the workforce at the end of the period) and children, many of whom were taken out of school at the earliest opportunity to boost the family's earning power. Women were heavily concentrated into weaving, the preparation of cotton for spinning in the dirty and dusty conditions of the cardroom, and ring spinning, a new technology which appeared in the 1880s. Especially unusual was the high proportion of married women, who formed more than one-third of the female labour force in certain weaving towns. BBC

At the top of my post, you can see an old photograph of a cotton mill weaving shed. The noise is horrendous - and as you can see from the following video (click link) only one loom is being worked and the noise is deafening. See this short video here: Lady making calico at queen street textile mill. Most mill workers suffered from hearing problems. In order to communicate workers used 'mee maw'.

mee maw

Verb. To pull faces. From the exaggerated expressions made on the faces of conversing mill workers, in an attempt to make themselves understood over the din of machinery. [Lancashire use. 1900s?] (from here)

My great-grandmother worked in the mills - in fact most of my ancestors were weavers (and some were hatters). She was profoundly deaf.

~oOo~

This morning we went over to church and met up with some other children. My friend had organised a treasure hunt and some other games to play. They had lots of fun. After dinner (lunch) Chatterbox went to a friend's house to play and for tea and Squidge and I went on an autumnal walk. Squidge wants to make a 'garden in a box'. So hubs has brought home some boxes from work and we are going to arrange Squidge's finds like a little autumnal garden tomorrow.

After our walk Squidge arranged the table for tea. She wanted to make it pretty. Didn't she do well? :)


I can't believe that it's Thursday evening and half-term week is almost over. It's far too short.

Rainy day

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;

Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It's been a grey dreary day. The rain has not ceased to fall since early morning. But there's something lovely about sitting indoors in a warm house with a cosy lamp on. Fussing a dozing cat whilst reading. I've also cleaned Chatterbox's room and posted a letter. We then caught up on some school homework and reading. After lunch it was time for the rainy day stalwart of every mother - painting.

I LOVE this sort of day.

We painted rocks and eggs. I tried to get the egg out of the shell by piercing a hole in both ends of the egg and blowing. Firstly I find that a bit yukky and had to spray the egg first with antibacterial spray (obsessive me) and then I blew as hard as I could. When I started to see stars and everything was turning black I decided to just make a bigger hole in the bottom of the egg and shake the stuff out! It's OK. We'll just arrange the eggs so you can't see the hole. :)

Chatterbox's stone

The Finished products:

Some more painting:

by Chatterbox

by Squidge

Squidge (age 6) is very good at painting. Here is her 'Monet' picture done at school:

Here are Chatterbox's 'Monet' paintings also done at school when she was 6:


Aren't they clever? I should start a gallery, lol.

Happy Homemaker Monday

For more Happy Homemaker Monday posts visit Sandra's blog

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Bright frosty morning. Forecast says it's going to be clear all day!

Things that make me happy:

Pottering about at home.

Book(s) I'm reading:

Taking Your Place in Christ by Mark Hankins
They Met at Calvary - were you there? by WE Sangster
I Am With You Always: True Stories of Encounters with Jesus by G. Scott Sparrow

What's on my TV today:

Right now: Animal Cops Houston
This afternoon: Midsomer Murders
Tonight: The Middle (I LOVE The Middle)

On the menu for dinner:

Something easy like fish, chips and peas because I'm going out to a church meeting tonight.

On my To Do List:
Clean downstairs
Laundry
Ironing
Shop for Christmas clothes for the girls with Mum
Clean bedrooms

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Still not made Quiche!

In the craft basket:
More pom-poms!
Painted eggs
Paper mache box

Looking forward to this week:
Half-term with the girls!

Tips and Tricks:

To get your children to eat more fruit have a regular 'fruit time' everyday. At first they might pull their faces, but once it is in the routine they expect it. Our fruit time is in the afternoon as soon as they get back from school. I get very few complaints now, even from Chatterbox who is not a big fan of fruit.

My favourite blog post this week:

Sandra's Moonlight post, gorgeous photos of the moon.

Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):

None

No words needed (favourite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):


I love hanging washing out.

Lesson learned the past few days:

That we can so easily lose our focus on Jesus in the midst of all our church busyness.

On my mind and in my prayers:

My nan and granddad.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. Psalm 31:3

The first frost

Some leaves hang late, some fall
before the first frost--so goes
the tale of winter branches and old bones.
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Today we had our first frost. The sky is blue and clear. The weather forecast earlier in the week that today would be clear cold weather and my first thought was, "Ooh I will wash my bedding then". I'm easily pleased. My mum and I get inordinately excited about hanging washing outside. You can hang laundry out in freezing weather, it will get stiff as a board but when you bring it indoors it dries very quickly.



I love Autumn. :)

I keep spying this bucket outside, it's been there since hubs last washed the car. I think very soon wildlife will be spawning in it! ;)

Now I need to go and tackle the bedrooms.

Have a lovely day.

Jack Frost took his paintbrush
as he sailed across the sky
so every morning as the sun comes up
his artwork greets the eye
there's reds and gold's and yellows
all of a breath taking view
but no matter how hard he tries
he can never make leaves turn blue
so when you're in bed sleeping
and outside everything seems faint
just remember at midnight
Jack Frost begins to paint

by Carl Jesse

This puts life into perspective

This post at Cottage Sunshine was just so moving that I had to share the link: This puts life into perspective.

Happy Homemaker Monday Tuesday

For more Happy Homemaker Monday posts visit Sandra's blog

I'm a bit late with this!

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Sunny/cloudy now, but it's been rainy/cold most of the day

Things that make me happy:
My children. I love them so much

Book I'm reading:
Nothing right now, but I picked the following books off the bookshelf at church:

Taking Your Place in Christ by Mark Hankins
They Met at Calvary - were you there? by WE Sangster
I Am With You Always: True Stories of Encounters with Jesus by G. Scott Sparrow

What's on my TV today:

Saved on Sky+ we have:

4 episodes of Castle
Criminal Minds
A League of Their Own
Countdown
Match of the Day
Air Crash Investigation
Top Gear
Match of the Day 2 (sheesh! ;) )
The Middle
V: the New Series
Malcolm in the Middle

we also have Malcolm in the Middle, The Middle and Deadliest Catch set up to record.

So who knows what we'll be watching today!

On the menu for dinner:
Child friendly either fish fingers mash n' peas or chicken drumsticks mash n' peas (Squidge's (my 6 year old) friend is coming round after school.

On my To Do List:
Ironing
Pick up the girls from school

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Quiche - I've never made my own quiche

In the craft basket:
More pom-poms!

Looking forward to this week:
Same as you Sandra! Parent/Teacher Conferences

Tips and Tricks:

To clean soap scum off the bath scrub with biological washing powder, it doesn't scratch the surface, it smells lovely and it really gets the soap scum/muck off. It can make the bath slippery though.

My favourite blog post this week:

I have two:
Angela's husband Bob's post: Manuel Gonzales Pavez
and
Jennifer at Conversion Diary's Prank calls and the power of humility This post made my eyes fill up, it's very moving give it a read. It relates a story from when she was an atheist.

“Do you know what I mean?” he had asked after telling me of how this God of his had taken a shattered mess of a life and restored it to something beautiful and whole. And as I closed my dorm room door, for a brief moment I wished more than anything that I did.

Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):

None right at the moment.


No words needed (favourite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):




Lesson learned the past few days:

That there is nothing wrong with admitting that you need a rest and that you can't do everything that you're being asked to.

On my mind:

My nan and granddad.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

On Sunday I was feeling quite low, but a sister read out this scripture and I really wept (well you know that sort of crying where you're trying to do it so quietly so as to not make a scene that you give yourself a headache!).

Psalm 121
A Song of Ascents.

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.