Weekend Cooking – Journeys to the Past

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

I can’t recall what I was even thinking about, but something stirred in the back of my mind of foods and food related subjects from my child hood.

The town I grew up in held a weekly fruit and vegetable market on a Friday and Saturday. My Grandmother went there as a matter of course and frequented a stall run by the name of HONES. I am sure that over time, my Mum revealed that she had gone to school with a son of the owner.

The produce was fresh and reasonably priced and would be displayed in a function yet nice manner that encouraged you to buy.

I was rooting around in the cutlery drawer a week or so ago and spotted this set. This is the first set of cutlery I was bought, so it is at least 35 years old. It looks ok, actually I have recently used it for lunch at work!

 
This is a cooking favourite. My trusty book that we were asked to purchase when I was doing my cooking O Level at school. The date on the inside is 1984 and the price of 95p!

My Grandmother, never went out without a mint or two in her pocket. I guess that I have developed that same patten and this is a photo of my latest favourite. Sad to see that they are described by Fox’s as a limited edition!

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Wordless Wednesday – Alfie

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Julie Goucher
Sleeping in Progress – Do Not Disturb!

You may have met Alfie, back in April when he was the subject of A is for ……as part of the A-Z Challenge.

Here is he last week, never missing a trick to jump up on the bed and head straight back to sleep. I simply had to share; he is such a sweetheart!

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1926 Advert – C T Bowring & Co Ltd

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Julie Goucher
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Carnival Of Genealogy 107 – The Seasons of My Genealogy Research

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Julie Goucher

If I were to align the seasons of the year to my genealogical activities I would say that:

  • Spring would be the season of reflection. What material do I have? What do I know? and What do I need to find out? 
  • Summer would be Season for undertaking the research, visiting the archives, relatives and cemeteries.
  • Autumn would be the season for evaluation. Assembling the research and the material and knowledge already gleaned. What still needs to be discovered. 
  • Winter would be the season to write up the material into a knowledgeable and workable archive, fit for the future. Winter would also build into the reflections of what I need to do in the following Spring.
Researching our ancestry isn’t like that though is it? Of course I tend to visit Cemeteries more so in the Spring and Summer and perhaps Autumn and rarely in the Winter, but that is not a certainty. 
I have spent hours sorting through two large filing cabinets in my study over the last year, yes, I did say year. I have shredded so much material, all domestic sensitive waste that I filled our cardboard bin twice over! The plan was to go back through my genealogical files and folders and streamline the material ensuring the data appeared in my computer programme. Not a quick job by any means. 
I also streamlined all the material that relates to my two one name studies, one place study, a collection of material of a particular road that features in my ancestry and a collection of papers that relate to two locations, both out of the UK to see if the material is substantial enough to be called a one place study and if it isn’t do I want to build into the data so that it is.
I have decided that for the remainder of this year I am going to refile and establish my next path of research. Catalogue photographs of graves and cemeteries and generally evaluate what research I have and what I need to still locate. 
I guess that all these activities put me somewhere between  Spring and Autumn and as I establish what data I have about specific individuals I shall head into Winter with a Ancestor of the Week post.

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52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History – Wk 26 – Songs

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Julie Goucher

Week 26. Songs. What was the #1 song during the week of your birth? Enter your birth date at This Day in Music (http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1) and find out. If you were born before 1946, you can enter the year of your marriage, the birth dates of your children or some other significant event.
This challenge runs from Saturday, June 25, 2011 through Friday, July 1, 2011.
A rather fun entry this week!
Number One on the UK music charts
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Memorial Books

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Julie Goucher

Last weekend, my mother in law sent us a selection of photographs of the memorial headstone of my father in law. I say memorial headstone as my father in law was cremated and my mother in law has retained the ashes. There is also an entry in the memorial book for the 12th June which displays the following entry.

So, can you believe all you read? In this case definitely not!

The entry in the book (above) is actually incorrect. for issues that I won’t go into, the names of the children from my father in law’s first marriage are missing. There is also an addition of my sister in law who was adopted by my father in law and is the daughter of my mother in law from her first marriage.  The grandchildren are also incorrect, as a nephew is missing  because he is deceased, where as I would have added his name followed by (dec).

I can explain all the omissions and additions, but what of future generations? How would they know?

My husband registered the death of his father because my mother in law was in hospital at the time. Had she or my sister in laws registered the death there would again have been inaccuracies. The death was registered in Scotland and part of that process is to name previous spouses. My mother in law would have been furious and possibly argued the point and my sister in laws would not have known the details. The death certificate therefore, thanks to my obsession with family history contains the full and accurate details.

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Weekend Cooking – Allsorts

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Julie Goucher

Over the last month or so I have been a bit slack on the weekend cooking posts. I don’t know what has caused this, just simply being off colour.

I like reading the regional newspaper on a Saturday. As well as the local news items, as you would expect there is a round up of antique sales, cooking, films, books and alike. I usually find something in print that makes me remove a page or two from the paper.

Here is a recipe from a few weeks ago, which sounds lovely, although I have not had time to make it yet.

Then last weekend we have a dinner that I almost threw together. We got engrossed in a few things at home and before I knew it was dinner time!

A quick rummage in the fridge revealed some chicken portions, mushrooms and bacon.

It was very quick to make. First boil some water with a splash of Olive Oil then add the pasta. Meanwhile, cut the chicken breasts and mushrooms. I had a few slices of bacon and a sad looking tomato which I added to use them up then I added a container of Philadelphia cheese – this one was herb and garlic. It took about 25 minutes and was delicious!

Last Friday, I finished work a little early and hubby met me for a late lunch. Our usual place in town was closed which was initially disappointing until we ventured into a local restaurant called the Dairy Maid. I am fairly predictable and selected the Jacket Potato with cheese with side salad.

The side salad was interesting combination & was delicious. There was lettice, tomato, celery and cucumber which I gave to Stuart as I am allergic to it. There was also orange and yellow peppers, strawberries and blackberries sprinkled with cress on top. The cheese was strong, which is just how I like it!

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Those Places Thursday – The House with Nobody in It by Joyce Kilmer

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Julie Goucher

The House with Nobody in It by Joyce Kilmer

Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track
I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.
I suppose I’ve passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;
That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.
I know this house isn’t haunted, and I wish it were, I do;
For it wouldn’t be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,
And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.
It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;
But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid
I’d put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.
I’d buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be
And I’d find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,
Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.
But there’s nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone
For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do,
a house that has sheltered life,
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,
A house that has echoed a baby’s laugh and held up his stumbling feet,
Is the saddest sight, when it’s left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track
I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,
Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,
For I can’t help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart.

This poem was written in 1913 by Joyce Kilmer

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Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts (Book 2 of the Bride Quartet Series)

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Julie Goucher
Book two of this series focuses on the life of Emmalina, or Emma to her friends. Together with her friends Mac,Parker & Lauren, Emma is a partner in a wedding planner business called Vows. The foursome, live and work from the home of Parker who transforms her family home after death of her parents. Emma has known Jack most of her life and is has probably loved him for most of that too! This is the journey Emma and Jack take as they take their relationship to a different level……
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Riptide – Devon – Is truth stranger than fiction?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Julie Goucher

I was alerted to this by a fellow book blogger, and thought that as much of my blog is about history and memories perhaps I should submit an entry…….

For the Devon-themed volume, unusually, the editors are looking for two different kinds of submissions – fictional ones and ‘memoir snapshots’.
Fictional stories can be up to 5000 words as usual.  The memoirs need to be very short – a brief account of no more than 500 words offering an unusual insight into Devon. 
If you know someone with a story to tell, go out and interview them, write it up, edit it into sparkling form and send it to submissions@riptidejournal.co.uk
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