The Books That I Read in April

 

I only read a couple of books during April, but those that I did read I really enjoyed.

 The Cottage Garden Diaries by Fiona J. Houston

 I bought this book back in 2016 and fell in love with it immediately.  I hadn't re-read it for a long time and with the previous book I read in March being so disappointing, I wanted to move onto something that I just knew I would love to read all over again, so I started the month with it. Click on the link to read more about it.

Her house and the little cottage in her garden are just outside Innerleithen in Scotland where my sister-in-law lives, so it was nice to be able to picture the places that Fiona talked about walking to and from, and the shops that she frequented when she walked into town.

I have kept this book. 

The Way Home by Mark Boyle

A book that I thought I had read before, but after reading through about a quarter of it I found a book mark, and it turned out that the rest was all fresh to me.  So something must have stopped me from finishing it the first time that I read it when it was new back in 2019.

I don't know what my notes were in aid of, it's usually shopping lists that I find in books ... which is really handy when I am in Sainsbury's, pondering on what I wrote on the list!!

The card was one off a blog reader a few years ago and is my current bookmark ... to try and stop me using shopping lists.  😄

Anyway it is a really good and thought provoking read, and has made me want to go back and read his first book again.

I have also kept this book.

30 Minute Suppers by Nigel Slater

My last book of the month was this tiny book by Nigel Slater.

It is a tiny little book that I purchased years ago and definitely not for the price it is currently being advertised on Amazon for.  There were few recipes that I would have made, so I had a read through, made a few notes and then donated it to the book table in Booths.

Donated.

Strangely, I wasn't in the mood for starting another book right at the end of the month, so I took some time to read through some of my old The Simple Things magazines, before donating them to the charity book table.

So although it doesn't at first glance appear to be a very 'booky' month, the two main books that I did read I really enjoyed.  It's good when you can really sink into a book and it gets you thinking about things isn't it.

Sue xx

I would like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are, some of them were bought from the Used section rather than at full price.  You do not need to spend a fortune to read good books. 💖

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops. 

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

Bread Rolls et al ...

Bread rolls, buns, baps, barms, stotties, cobs ... what do you call yours?

In my life I have lived in numerous places across England and into Wales, and I have adapted what I call those lovely little circles (or occasionally squares) of bread to suit the region I'm in. There's no use in asking for something in a bakery that puzzles the shopkeeper, although they usually cotton on and look at you in sympathy for not know the correct terminology.

I am a Lancashire lass, born and bred in Manchester, and to us bread rolls were always called barms or barmcakes.  When I moved up to Cumbria they were called rolls or teacakes, then I moved down south and suddenly they were baps, or bread rolls ... no one knew what a barmcake was.  A teacake was once again was a bun with sultanas in it all ready for toasting.  

Then in Wales a bread roll was a bap, and it was there that I discovered some lovely bread from Welsh bakeries.  My favourite being the company on the wrapper in the top photo.

And now our Booths is selling Henllan Bakery products and I am very happy.

Each week just recently, in preference to a loaf of bread I have been buying a pack of four buns and using them in different ways.  I do now have a sliced loaf in the freezer for toast emergencies, but who's to say a bread roll can't be toasted in place of sliced bread.

My four, or should that be five uses for my four bread rolls last week were:

  This is the closed up version of the giant fishfinger butty mentioned on Saturday.

Half of a bun with two eggs scrambled, this made a lovely breakfast.

The other half of the bun with one third of a tin of baked beans for lunch the following day.

Another breakfast, this time with a bun sliced through and then flattened so it would fit better in the toaster.

Another day and a super filling lunch, an egg mayo open bun ... soooo tasty.  😃

And then I found a bonus bun in the freezer, so I fried four slices of Quorn vegan ham and had a bacon butty.

Seven days, five buns.  It was a tasty week last week.

Now it's time to go out and buy a new pack.  

So ... bread rolls, buns, baps, barms, stotties, cobs ... what do you call yours?

Sue xx

Cake, Coffee and a Giant Fishfinger

 

Another day - another free treat.

Gosh, it's going well this collecting of free birthday treats.  On our way to visit Mum yesterday we stopped off at Bents garden centre, somewhere I used to go regularly with Mum and Dad, so it holds some nice memories.  I was entitled to a free cake during the month of my birthday and as there was less than a week left it made sense to call for my freebie while we were relatively close by.  After all, it's no good driving for miles and miles just to collect free things.  

I also had a free coffee on my loyalty card, so once again it was coffee and cake ... only this time Alan had to fend for himself.  Not that he objected in the slightest, the Bents cream scones are famous for both size and flavour, what you can see on his plate is half of the scone.  They very cleverly put jam on each inside surface of the scone and then pipe cream into the middle, so you can carefully slice it in half through the middle and have two scone halves with both jam and cream.  My cake started off as a vegan Jammie Dodger cup cake, but I had eaten nearly all the biscuit before I remember to get a photo.  😄

I still have a few other freebies to collect while I am out and about, but I have been careful to plan them all in order of having to use them up.  It's a shame they are virtually all sweet things, I would love a free sausage roll or sandwich ... or even a free banana!! 🍌

A single giant fish finger ... from a pack purchased at Bents ... on a bun with lots of mayo, was all I needed for my tea after such a sweet treat earlier in the day.

Sue xx

Sunshine and Water Meters

 

We had to wait for the man from United Utilities yesterday.  

He was due to come sometime between 8am and 1pm, he phoned at 11am and said he was 9 minutes away, was it okay for him to arrive.  Very polite and very specific, and highly appreciated.  He was coming to survey us for a new water meter and possibly install it.  Unfortunately, it couldn't be fitted indoors where the stopcock is, so they will be coming back to install an outdoor one at a future date.

Just in case it was fitted yesterday, I had snapped into action nice and early and given the garden a good watering, filling the watering cans as a last minute thought ... even my fancy pants decorative one.  Oh, well the water is there ready for action when it's needed.  

I had also had a shower and done a machine load of washing, which was dry within a hour or so, we do have a lovely little suntrap at the back in the mornings at this time of year.

My bid to keep water costs down might have all been a bit futile, but I did have a smug look on my face after getting so much done so early.  😄

As a reward to ourselves for being productive, me with the water situation and Alan with his business meeting, we decided to use our free coffee and cake vouchers ... right on their last day of availability!!

  We had received them last year when the live link to Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House, had broken down at the cinema and we all had to traipse from one cinema screen to the next.  We only missed about four minutes of the ballet, so we were all very happy with the vouchers.

I was even happier when we worked out how much our two coffees and cakes would have cost us to actually buy.  It should have been £16 ... there's a reason I take my own drinks and sweets to the cinema.  😊

Sue xx

Spring Onions, Minimal Shopping, Rice Review ... and Birthday Treats

 

My finances are holding up quite well at the moment, the repayments from my son are helping as they are coming in regularly each week, he's lucky he gets paid weekly so finds things easier to manage that way.  I have been really good with my spending overall so there will not be any huge credit card bill to pay off in full at the start of next month, and well  just in general things are just working out as I hoped.

The cheap Easter veg that I picked up is lasting well and has really helped out with my almost non-existent budget, these are the two bunches of Spring Onions before they went into the fridge, a few are now missing but they still look really good, this is my favourite way of storing them, and it's what pint pots were made for. 😄

This is the only shopping that I needed this week.

I buy these bottles of sparkling water once every 4-6 months and then refill the bottles with the much cheaper Aldi sparkling water.  Although our tap water is really good, and indeed I drink a lot of it at home, in the car I prefer to have sparkling water, and sometimes I drink it in the evening as well instead of a glass of wine.

Total spend here was £9.50 in Booths for the water and eggs, and 75p in Aldi for the buns.

I tried the rice that I bought from Aldi last week the other night.  

I just served it really simply with a salt and pepper fish portion, also from Aldi.  It made a very tasty meal.  The portion size was just about right for me, I do like a lot of rice, and the vegetables in the rice were lovely, not at all mushy just a really good texture.  I think I may buy it again, but I also think I will have a go at replicating it for myself.

I've been gathering in all my free birthday treats over the past couple of days and there are still more to come.  When we called into Booths for the bit of shopping that we both did we went upstairs and I got my free birthday cake, this time Alan chose to have a scone.  Yes, most of the places that give out the freebies don't have dairy-free options so he's doing quite well out of my birthday, at least he buys me the coffees.  😄

Sue xx

The Joy of Great Grandchildren

What a gorgeous expression on Finley-James' little face.

Can you tell he is absolutely delighted to have his very own little brother, after being a little brother himself to Mason for all his life.

Meet Marley-James our third great-grandson, born on 14th April and weighing in at 6lbs 6oz, that's a whole pound and an ounce lighter than Finley was when he arrived on 15th August 2023.  Finley only met his brother for the first time on Monday, as little Marley has been in the neonatal intensive care unit since his birth, all's well now though and he's finally home.

Two sons just twenty months apart, my grandson Liam and his fiancée Ellie are going to have their hands full for sure.

Sue xx

Don't Say Happy Birthday

It was my birthday on Saturday, gosh so many of us bloggers have our birthdays within days of each other don't we!!  

It was a good day. 🎂

The day before on Good Friday we had visited Mum and my brother had nipped in earlier to take in a card for Mum to sign for me, it seems he had told every member of staff that he came across on his way in that was my birthday, so when we arrived everyone that I came across said 'Happy Birthday' which was a lovely surprise.

A gorgeous card off Mum, via Graham and displayed on the shelf with 'Valerie' the teddy bear that was my present on my 1st birthday.  The Easter card in the top photo is also off Mum and on a shelf with a photo of baby me with Mum and Dad on the day of my christening.

My birthday present off Alan was this lovely set of Jane Austen books, and an Easter egg.

Because I am an independent woman, my birthday present off myself was Walden by Henry David Thoreau and this lovely little nightlight holding house.  My motto is ... if there is something that you really, really want make sure that you get it for yourself.  😁

My eldest son and his partner sent me some lovely Spring coloured 'letter-box' flowers, sadly one tulip was missing and one had been decapitated before even making it into the box.  So I have one loud and proud tulip standing in for his mates.  😄

We went to Morecambe to one of our favourite cafés for breakfast and then I had a lazy afternoon.

My day was rounded off nicely with an invitation from Alan to his house for a home cooked Fish Supper.

A couple of episodes of Death in Paradise on iPlayer, a glass of wine and my tea cooked for me, what better end could I ask for to a really good day. 

Ginger, just realising that he had forgotten to buy me a present.  😸

Here's to next year.

NOW, your mission is to fight the urge to wish me 'a Happy Birthday' or a 'belated Happy Birthday' and instead tell me if you have a teddy bear or a toy from your very young days that you still treasure.

Sue xx

A Childhood Easter

from Google Images

Happy Easter to you all, however you celebrate it.  

Whether it be with a lovely visit to church, an abundance of chocolate eggs or just a lovely quiet family time.  Or maybe it will simply be a day alone doing all of your favourite things. 

I always feel that there is something calming and nostalgic about knowing that virtually all the shops in the country are closed, and we have almost taken a step back to when Sunday was always a relaxing and catch-up family day.  

A day to breathe before the week ahead. 

I thought I would share a few of my childhood Easter photos today.

The day always started with getting dressed in our best clothes, I would go to church with my Nana and then come home to spend some time cuddling our very own Easter bunny ... and his little friend our guinea pig.

Then it was upstairs to Nana's living room to have our photo taken, and receive a chocolate egg each from her.

The we would begin the forty minute walk to Gran's house in the Moss Side area of Manchester, to have another photo taken and be rewarded with another chocolate egg.  

I loved Gran's big old Victorian house, she had lived there since they had been moved into it by the local authority when her first marital home had been completely flattened during the war.  It was so large that to make ends meet and be able to afford the rent she rented out a few of the upstairs rooms.  I dreaded bumping into one of the lodgers if I had to go upstairs to use the shared bathroom.

Some years my Uncle Norman would come and pick us up in his car and we would have a family day out, first to his house for a drink and then onto Lyme  Park which was quite close by.  We got on great with our cousins and were all very similar in age.  We always had to pose for a photo, then it was usually a picnic lunch sat on the grass.

Another year, this time posing in the garden before we set off for Gran's house.  It looks like I got a very posh egg with chocolates that year.  😀

The eggs of my childhood ... 5/3d  gosh they were expensive, no wonder we only ever got three or four.

I was always thrilled when I got a box of these.  

However you celebrate, I hope you enjoy your day and I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.

Sue xx

 

4p Potatoes and a Local Good Deed

As seen on our local Facebook group.

'Evening Garstonians, I'm not a regular contributor in this group but this evening I felt compelled to write. Just after 8pm I got an unexpected knock on the door and whilst corralling excited dogs and with some apprehension I opened the door.

To my surprise I was greeted by two cheerful young gentlemen who politely offered me a bag of potatoes. They explained that they had bought them at a local supermarket at a bargain price and were distributing to local people.

To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement.!!!!

Thank you lads you have made my day, my week, my year, I can't stop smiling at your random act of kindness.

We too often moan about our local youth but you boys have proven that Garstang has some true gems. Parents be proud.

I will enjoy the spuds and smile'.

 The lads Mum quickly worked out who it had been from the messages she was receiving, and it turned out they had put the small change from their pockets together and bought 56p worth of 4p, 2kg bags of potatoes.

What a nice feel good story to hear of for Easter.  💖

In other news I sold my old curtains on Facebook Marketplace at the end of last week. 

It added £20 to my little money stash that I am using to try and keep the money that is in my bank account actually in my bank account. 

 Every little helps and all that.  😁

But now I feel guilty for having that extra cash, so I think it will be half for me and half for food for our local Food Bank to give their shelves a little boost after the Easter holidays.

Sue xx

Easter Shopping and Cheap Veg

 

Alan was going to Aldi this morning, so I decided that I would go with him and take advantage of some of the cheap vegetables that the UK supermarkets are using as a loss leader to get the customers in this Easter weekend.

I decided to stock up a bit on fish for the freezer while I was there, and some lovely little marigolds seemed to have fallen into my trolley.

I don't know what made me buy these frozen rice bags really, but I thought they might be nice to try and I had never noticed them before.  At £1.99 for a bag of  four you are definitely paying for convenience.  I might have to do a side by side price comparison by making some golden vegetable rice for myself from the rice and frozen vegetables that I have already got in.

The downside to shopping early in the morning when the supermarket is nice and quiet is that you have time to browse the aisles!!

So of the £33.48 that I spent, only £1.24 went on the cheap Easter veg ... their naughty little ploy worked well didn't it. 😄

On both mine and Alan's receipts we were astonished to see that the potatoes that should have been 8p have gone through at only 4p.  Four pence for 2kg of potatoes ... I do hope that the farmers are not the ones paying for this ridiculous pricing of food.  

Sue xx