The fairies give thanks

The Fairies Give Thanks

To all kind folk who make delightful gardens
Where we may live,
Enjoying days and nights of busy leisure
Amid devices fashioned for our pleasure,
Our thanks we give.

For dancing-lawns and gravelled jousting-places,
For guardian trees,
For ferny thickets strewn with moss-grown mountains
And lily-pools and waterfalls and fountains -
For all of these.

Charged are we also by our little comrades
The gentle birds,
That we their messages of thanks should bring you,
Since they from grateful hearts can only sing you
Songs without words.

From The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

A mini elephant & a giant duck

If my Facebook is anything to go by, 'tis the season to get engaged!

So in that spirit, here's an old Vine I did - it's a very fast love story between a mini elephant and a giant duck - because why not?! :-)

Words of the Week: Week 14

22/12/14 to 28/12/14

Monday: resilient - 1. (Of a substance or object) able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed: e.g. 'a shoe with resilient cushioning'; 2. (Of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions: e.g. 'babies are generally far more resilient than new parents realize'

Tuesday: predicament - A difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation: e.g. 'the club’s financial predicament'

Wednesday: gourmand - A person who enjoys eating and often eats too much: e.g. 'I realise I'm doing what gourmands never do - reveal their favourite restaurants for fear of overpopulising, however…'

Thursday: Noel - Christmas, especially as a refrain in carols and on Christmas cards

Friday: snarf - Eat or drink quickly or greedily: e.g. 'they snarfed up frozen yogurt'

Saturday: odium - General or widespread hatred or disgust incurred by someone as a result of their actions: e.g. 'he incurred widespread odium for military failures and government corruption'

Sunday: reciprocity - The practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another: e.g. 'the Community intends to start discussions on reciprocity with third countries'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• Gourmands often snarf their food
• A common predicament of gourmands is causing odium by snarfing in public :-)

Look out, Jack Frost is about!

Jack Frost

Look out! Look out!
Jack Frost is about!
He's after our fingers and toes;
And, all through the night,
The gay little sprite
Is working when nobody knows.

He'll climb each tree,
So nimble is he,
His silvery powder he'll shake:
To windows he'll creep,
And while we're asleep,
Such wonderful pictures he'll make.

Across the grass
He'll merrily pass,
And change all its greenness to white;
The home he will go,
And laugh, "Ho! ho! ho!
What fun I have had in the night!"

By Cecily E. Pike, taken from Harry Golding's book Verses For Children

He certainly had fun here last night!

Christmas Night

Christmas Night

When it's Christmas night,
And the fire's alight,
And I'm lying awake in bed,
I feel quite sure there are fairies
Like the ones in tales I've read.
It's specially on Christmas night,
When nothing feels the same,
That I keep thinking to myself,
"Suppose a fairy came!"

I think there must be fairies
Who hang the stars all out,
And fairies who make the bells ring,
And carry the snow about.
And some of them paint the shadows
That dance up and down the wall -
So nobody need be frikened
Of shadows like that at all!
And one little special fairy
Looks after the ugly things,
And things that are old and broken,
And covers them with her wings.
That's why I've put my dolly -
The one that has lost an eye -
On the mantelshelf, so her fairy
Will see her as she goes by....

When it's Christmas night,
And the fire's alight,
And I'm lying in bed awake,
I keep quite still, and I listen
For the sounds the fairies make.
I've never seen nor heard them yet,
But I believe I might,
If only I could keep awake
All through one Christmas night.

From Marion St John Webb's book The Little One In Between

The Box of Smiles

If I Knew

If I knew the box where the smiles were kept,
No matter how large the key
Or strong the bolt, I would try so hard,
'Twould open, I know, for me;
Then over the land and sea broadcast
I'd scatter the smiles to play,
That the children's faces might hold them fast
For many and many a day.

If I knew a box that was large enough
To hold all the frowns I meet,
I would gather them, every one,
From nursery, school, and street;
Then, folding and holding, I'd pack them in
And turn the monster key,
And hire a giant to drop the box
To the depths of the deep, deep sea.

Taken from Harry Golding's book Verses For Children

The box of smiles would make a wonderful worldwide Christmas present :-)

If only I knew where it was kept!

Words of the Week: Week 13

15/12/14 to 21/12/14

Monday: bourgeoisie - The middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes: e.g. 'the rise of the bourgeoisie at the end of the eighteenth century'

Tuesday: Childe - A youth of noble birth

Wednesday: orthoepy - The correct or accepted pronunciation of words: e.g. 'Some letters and combinations of letters depend in their orthoepy upon the etymology of the word'

Thursday: terpsichorean - Relating to dancing: e.g. ''the twist' was a revolutionary terpsichorean innovation'

Friday: cumbersome - Large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; unwieldy

Saturday: emulous - Seeking to emulate someone or something

Sunday: tenebrous - Dark; shadowy or obscure: e.g. 'the tenebrous spiral staircase of the self'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• A Childe looks down on the bourgeoisie, and doesn't care about orthoepy!

Lego hat switcheroo!

Lego people having a style remix! :-)

The value of good milk-chocolate

According to the 1915 book The Mistress of the Little House, milk chocolate can help you avoid colds!

"A cold or a chill can often be avoided if a little sustenance is taken when one is out in the wet. For instance, few things are more beneficial than milk-chocolate or raisins under such circumstances, and when anyone is bound to be out in the fog or the wet, it is wise to eat a little to keep the system from getting below par. The value of good milk-chocolate as a sustaining food is not sufficiently known." (page 112)

Any excuse to indulge - it's medicinal!

Words of the Week: Week 12

08/12/14 to 14/12/14

Monday: vaunt - (usually as adjective vaunted) Boast about or praise (something), especially excessively: e.g. 'the much vaunted information superhighway'

Tuesday: salutary - (Especially with reference to something unwelcome or unpleasant) producing good effects; beneficial: e.g. 'it failed to draw salutary lessons from Britain’s loss of its colonies'

Wednesday: Braille - A form of written language for blind people, in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are felt with the fingertips

Thursday: coolth - Pleasantly low temperature: e.g. 'the coolth of the evening'

Friday: reticent - Not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily: e.g. 'she was extremely reticent about her personal affairs'

Saturday: timorous - Showing or suffering from nervousness or a lack of confidence: e.g. 'a timorous voice'

Sunday: toboggan - (noun) A long, light, narrow vehicle, typically on runners, used for sliding downhill over snow or ice; (verb) Ride on a toboggan

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• She seems reticent but is really only timorous
• He was too timorous to try tobogganing
• After the heat and stuffiness of the office, she was pleased to escape into the coolth outside

Fairy days

Sometimes

Some days are fairy days. The minute that you wake
You have a magic feeling that you never could mistake;
You may not see the fairies, but you know that they're about,
And any single minute they might all come popping out.
You want to laugh, you want to sing, you want to dance and run:
Everything is different, everything is fun:
The sky is full of fairy clouds, the streets are fairy ways -
Anything might happen on truly fairy days.

Some nights are fairy nights. Before you go to bed
You hear their darling music go chiming in your head;
You look into the garden, and through the misty grey
You see the trees all waiting in a breathless kind of way.
All the stars are smiling - they know that very soon
The fairies will come singing from the land behind the moon.
If only you could keep awake when Nurse puts out the light, ...
Anything might happen on a truly fairy night.

From The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

The Months, by Sara Coleridge

The Months

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat.

By Sara Coleridge, taken from Harry Golding's book Verses For Children

Illustrations by Margaret W. Tarrant

Toy dogs playing

I love these wee toy dogs because I think they look like my dog Henry (on the left) and my sister's dog Jake (on the right) :-)

The longest ever woolly scarf

It's getting very chilly - definitely time to cosy up in a woolly scarf!

Who wore the longest ever scarf?! Well...

Taken from My Very First Poetry Book

The Mistress of the Little House

The Mistress of the Little House, edited by Flora Klickmann, is a 1915 housekeeping guide.

The introduction says:
"This book is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on household management. It is merely a collection of practical talks on domestic topics for those educated women who cannot afford to keep a properly trained servant, and have to do most of the housework themselves."

It's really interesting, and definitely makes you appreciate all the mod cons we have these days that make things so much easier - and mean servants are thankfully a thing of the past.

Here are a couple of advertisements from the back of the book, showing pre-electric kettle and toaster solutions!

Feed the birds

Winter is the time of year when birds need our help the most, as their natural food sources become more scarce.
Please help them out by putting some food and water out for them.

Robin

If on a frosty morning
the robin redbreast calls
his waistcoat red and burning
like a beggar at your walls

throw breadcrumbs on the grass for him
when the ground is hard and still
for in his breast there is a flame
that winter cannot kill.

By Iain Crichton Smith, taken from My Very First Poetry Book

Words of the Week: Week 11

01/12/14 to 07/12/14

Monday: syllabub - A whipped cream dessert, typically flavoured with white wine or sherry

Tuesday: bemire - Cover or stain with mud: e.g. 'his shoes were bemired from travelling on foot'

Wednesday: émigré - A person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons: e.g. 'Soviet émigrés and defectors'

Thursday: Pollyanna - An excessively cheerful or optimistic person: e.g. 'what I am saying makes me sound like some ageing Pollyanna who just wants to pretend that all is sweetness and light'

Friday: disconsolate - Very unhappy and unable to be comforted: e.g. 'she left Fritz looking disconsolate'

Saturday: controvert - Deny the truth of (something): e.g. 'subsequent work from the same laboratory controverted these results'

Sunday: sangfroid - Composure or coolness shown in danger or under trying circumstances

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• She was disconsolate that her outfit was bemired
• Even being bemired couldn't stop her being a Pollyanna
• Despite those determined to controvert her work, she retained her sangfroid

The last full moon of 2014

It's a full moon tonight, the last of 2014!

In honour of the occasion, here's a moon themed poem from My Very First Poetry Book :-)

Humpty Dumpty went to the moon

Humpty Dumpty went to the moon
on a supersonic spoon.
He took some porridge and a tent
but when he landed
the spoon got bent.
Humpty said he didn't care
and for all I know
he's still up there.

By Michael Rosen

The pen is mightier than the sword!

A.k.a. ... Knight vs. Shakespeare!

Sir Winter, by Jean Kenward

Sir Winter

I heard Sir Winter coming.
He crept out of his bed
and rubbed his thin and freezing hands:
I'll soon be up! he said.

'I'll shudder at the keyhole
and rattle at the door,
I'll strip the trees of all their leaves
and strew them on the floor;

'I'll harden every puddle
that Autumn thinks is his -
I'll lay a sparkling quilt of snow
on everything that is!

'I'll bring a load of darkness
as large as any coal,
and drive my husky dogs across
the world, from pole to pole.

'Oho! How you will shiver!'
And then I heard him say:
'But in the middle of it all
'I'll give you
CHRISTMAS DAY!'

By Jean Kenward, taken from My Very First Poetry Book

Words of the Week: Week 10

24/11/14 to 30/11/14

Monday: prepotent - Greater than others in power or influence: e.g. 'Frankly, the prepotent title he goes under isn't enough to lend his argument any legitimacy'

Tuesday: sacerdotal - Relating to priests or the priesthood; priestly

Wednesday: Sprachgefühl - Intuitive feeling for the natural idiom of a language: e.g. 'it’s not genes or culture but Sprachgefühl that sets the French apart from the Finns'

Thursday: peart - Lively; cheerful: e.g. 'the man was right peart in his walking'

Friday: jaunt - A short excursion or journey made for pleasure: e.g. 'her regular jaunts to Europe'

Saturday: boscage - A mass of trees or shrubs: e.g. 'the view from the house is obscured by boscage'

Sunday: astrogation - (In science fiction) navigation in outer space: e.g. 'I need you to run the astrogation computers for the descent'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Here's to you Autumn

In my mind, Winter begins on the first of December, when I start my Christmas advent calendar :) So going by that reasoning, this is the last day of Autumn.

 

I collected and pressed some beautiful leaves this season - the colours are lush!

 

Here's to you Autumn, see you next year!

 

 

Teddy bears, when the humans aren't looking!

When the humans aren't looking, cheeky teddy bears Edward and Bertie nick the remote!

Words of the Week: Week 9

17/11/14 to 23/11/14

Monday: denouement - The final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved: e.g. 'the film’s denouement was unsatisfying and ambiguous'

Tuesday: inosculate - Join by intertwining or fitting closely together

Wednesday: peccavi - (archaic) Used to express one's guilt

Thursday: vigesimal - Relating to or based on the number twenty: e.g. a vigesimal mathematical system

Friday: vicarious - Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: e.g. 'this catalogue brings vicarious pleasure in luxury living'

Saturday: verbose - Using or expressed in more words than are needed: e.g. 'much academic language is obscure and verbose'

Sunday: ingratiate - (ingratiate oneself) Bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them: e.g. 'a sycophantic attempt to ingratiate herself with the local aristocracy'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• The play's denouement was verbose
• The denouement inosculated the various storylines

The rain as pretty as the sun

It's been raining A LOT the last couple of weeks. That, along with the shortening days, could be seen as a reason to be miserable... But it's all in your perspective.

It's a chance to cosy up inside, enjoy soft blankets, fluffy duvets, hot drinks and comfort food - and the rain can be pretty! The fairies think so, and so should we ;-)

Fairy Lore

Fairies learn to dance before they learn to walk;
Fairies learn to sing before they learn to talk;
Fairies learn their counting from the cuckoo's call;
They do not learn Geography at all.

Fairies go a-riding with witches on their brooms,
And steal away the rainbows to brighten up their rooms;
Fairies like a sky-dance better than a feast;
They have a birthday once a week at least.

Fairies think the rain as pretty as the sun;
Fairies think that trespass-boards are only made for fun;
Fairies think that peppermint's the  nicest thing they know;
I always take a packet when I go.

From The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

Beard wish granted!

Words of the Week: Week 8

10/11/14 to 16/11/14

Monday: adultescent - A middle-aged person whose clothes, interests, and activities are typically associated with youth culture

Tuesday: bethink - (bethink oneself) (archaic) Come to think: e.g. 'he bethought himself of the verse from the Book of Proverbs'

Wednesday: gosling - A young goose

Thursday: whitesmith - A person who makes articles out of metal, especially tin

Friday: disconcert - Disturb the composure of; unsettle: e.g. 'the abrupt change of subject disconcerted her'

Saturday: assuage - Make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense: e.g. 'the letter assuaged the fears of most members'

Sunday: paramount - More important than anything else; supreme: e.g. 'the interests of the child are of paramount importance'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• It is paramount we assuage these disconcerting feelings
• An adultescent may be disconcerted by the idea of 'acting their age'

Remembrance Day 2014

Two poems for Remembrance Day:

I Am Not a Badge of Honour

I am not a badge of honour,
I am not a racist smear,
I am not a fashion statement,
To be worn but once a year,
I am not glorification
Of conflict or of war.
I am not a paper ornament
A token,
I am more.

I am a loving memory,
Of a father or a son,
A permanent reminder
Of each and every one.

I'm paper or enamel
I’m old or shining new,
I’m a way of saying thank you,
To every one of you.

I am a simple poppy
A Reminder to you all,
That courage faith and honour,
Will stand where heroes fall.

By Paul Hunter

The Inquisitive Mind of a Child

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.

Author unknown

Golden Autumn

Autumn can be such a beautiful season.

Here's a photo I took of the evening sun shining through gorgeous golden leaves:

 

It's the little things :-)

Words of the Week: Week 7

3/11/14 to 9/11/14

Monday: valuta - The value of one currency with respect to its exchange rate with another: e.g. 'He was accused of sending foreign valuta out of Germany'

Tuesday: bicephalous - Having two heads: e.g. 'On the main facade is an imposing bicephalous eagle'

Wednesday: effulgent - Shining brightly; radiant: e.g. 'In the night sky, nothing is brighter and more effulgent than the moon'

Thursday: ullage - The amount by which a container falls short of being full: e.g. 'In drastic levels of dryness, this damage may cause the ullage to increase'

Friday: simon-pure - Completely genuine, authentic, or honest: e.g. 'they were not so simon-pure as the image they presented to the public'

Saturday: indocile - Difficult to teach or discipline; not submissive

Sunday: abstemious - Indulging only very moderately in something, especially food and drink: e.g. '‘We only had a bottle.’ ‘Very abstemious of you.’'

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• I was abstemious and didn't increase the bottle's ullage
• The Aplans are bicephalous race in Doctor Who

Space Spot (Doctor Who)

It's the Doctor Who series 8 finale tonight! I'm really loving Peter Capaldi (or 'Capaldi Who') as the Doctor, and I've been a fan of Michelle Gomez since she was in Channel 4's Green Wing, so needless to say I'm VERY excited!
I can't watch it live tonight, so I'm going to have to avoid all of the internet until I see it.

In the meantime, a quick Doctor Who themed poem from My Very First Poetry Book:

Space Spot

Twinkle, twinkle little star
Up there in the blue.
How I wonder what you are,
Are you Doctor Who?

By Max Fatchen

Lamp comes to life!

Fairyland is anywhere, you know

Greengage Jam

When I came back from Fairyland
At five o'clock to-day,
Belinda hadn't noticed that
I'd even been away!
I looked at where Belinda stood,
Belinda looked at me;
And then she gave a yawn and said,
"There's greengage jam for tea."

The way I go to Fairyland
Is up the attic stair,
And through the attic door and round
Some boxes - and it's there!
It's just between the arm-chair and
The clock without a face -
And nobody would guess it was
A really fairy place.

But Mother says that Fairyland
Is anywhere, you know;
You've only got to think it's there -
And there it is. And so
I've thinked that this is Fairyland,
And so it has to be.
But no one knows it's Fairyland,
Excepting only me.

I like to go to Fairyland
And sit and wait - quite still.
Though nothing's ever happened yet,
But some day p'r'aps it will!
It's nice to feel that no one knows
I'm sitting on the floor
And all alone in Fairyland,
Behind the attic door.

Belinda's got no Fairyland,
And if I said I'd been
She'd laugh at me - I know she would;
Belinda is thirteen.
So when I came from Fairyland
At five o'clock, you see,
I only said to her, "I'm glad
There's greengage jam for tea."

From Marion St John Webb's book The Little One In Between

'The Little One In Between' is a sweet old book of poems published in 1929, all written from the perspective of a little girl who is the middle child.

I really like the lines in this poem: "...Fairyland / Is anywhere, you know; / You've only got to think it's there - / And there it is."

It reminds me of the idea of finding pleasure, beauty and peace in the everyday, and within yourself :-)

Words of the Week: Week 6

27/10/14 to 2/11/14

Monday: matutinal - Of or occurring in the morning: e.g. 'his matutinal jog'

Tuesday: anathematize - Curse; condemn: e.g. 'he anathematized them as ‘bloody scroungers’'

Wednesday: notional - Existing as or based on a suggestion, estimate, or theory; not existing in reality: e.g. 'notional budgets for hospital and community health services'

Thursday: noisome - Having an extremely offensive smell: e.g. 'noisome vapours from the smouldering waste'

Friday: bogle - A phantom or goblin

Saturday: katzenjammer - 1. Confusion; uproar: e.g. 'All of this criminal katzenjammer' OR 2. A hangover; A severe headache resulting from a hangover

Sunday: inanimate - 1. Not alive OR 2. Showing no sign of life; lifeless

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Playing with this week's words!

• Notional matutinal jog
• Noisome bogle
• Inanimate due to a katzenjammer
• I anathematize this katzenjammer!

Hallowe'en, by Jean Kenward

Hallowe'en

Bring a candle!
Bring a light -
it must be Hallowe'en
tonight!

I saw a pixie
small and fine
dancing
on the washing line...

I saw a witch
go riding high
on her broomstick
through the sky...

I saw a giant
ten feet wide
with half a dozen
ships inside...

I saw a fairy
like a dream
top the milk
and sip the cream...

I saw a goblin
plump and brown
turn the church clock
upside down!

Come as quickly
as you can -
I saw the back
of a bogy man!

By Jean Kenward, taken from My Very First Poetry Book

Words of the Week: Week 5

20/10/14 to 26/10/14

Monday: deictic - Relating to or denoting a word or expression whose meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used (such as here, you, me, that one there, or next Tuesday)

Tuesday: bimble - (British informal) Walk or travel at a leisurely pace: e.g. 'on Sunday we bimbled around Spitalfields and Brick Lane'

Wednesday: retroflex - Turned backwards: e.g. 'a retroflexed endoscope'

Thursday: rebuff - Reject (someone or something) in an abrupt or ungracious manner: e.g. 'I asked her to be my wife, and was rebuffed in no uncertain terms'

Friday: oleaginous - Rich in, covered with, or producing oil; oily: e.g. 'fabrics would quickly become filthy in this oleaginous kingdom'

Saturday: demoralise - Cause (someone) to lose confidence or hope: e.g. 'the General Strike had demoralized the trade unions'

Sunday: hominoid - A primate of a group that includes humans, their fossil ancestors, and the great apes

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Conkers

I love conkers!
 
I'm not sure why but I've always found finding conkers exciting, and there's something very satisfying about opening the spiky green case and finding the lovely shiny conker inside. I think conker colours are gorgeous. This year I only found one, but then my dad turned up with loads!

 

 

Some conker trivia:

 

- In the UK there was a campaign asking everyone to collect conkers during the first and second world wars and donate them to the government. They were a source of starch to produce acetone, which was used in military armament factories.

 

- I've heard a lot the last couple of years that conkers are meant to repel spiders - given my great fear of spiders this makes me love conkers even more! I don't think there's any proper scientific evidence though.

- There is such a thing as a World Conker Championship! It started in 1965 in the village of Ashton near Oundle in Northamptonshire in England. It's held on the second Sunday of October each year - I don't know about you but this is going in my diary, I need to go to this!

The men's champion is crowned King Conker, and the women's champion is Queen Conker. Here are this year's winners (note the conkers on their crowns!):

Men’s Champion John Doyle from Leamington Spa Ladies' Champion Stephanie Withall from Towcester

In case anyone doesn't know about the game of conkers, it's played by two people, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string. They take turns, with one player letting their conker dangle on the string, and the other player swinging their conker to hit it. Points are gained by the conker breaking the other conker.

Maybe get some practice in and enter next year's World Championship?!

Fairies in Autumn

You perch upon the leaves where the trees are very high,

And you all shout together as the wind goes by;

The merry mad wind sets the leaves all afloat,

And off you go a-sailing in an airy wee boat.

Your fly to the edges of the grim grey cloud,

And you all start a-dancing and a-singing very loud;

The cloud melts away in a shower of peevish rain

And you slide down from heaven on a slim silver chain.

From The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

Words of the Week: Week 4

13/10/14 to 19/10/14

Monday: apologia - A formal written defence of one’s opinions or conduct: e.g. 'an apologia for book-banning'

Tuesday: doublethink - The acceptance of contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a result of political indoctrination

Wednesday: nickelodeon - (North American) A jukebox, originally one operated by the insertion of a nickel coin

Thursday: indwell - Be permanently present in someone’s soul or mind; possess spiritually: e.g. 'the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people'; (as adjective indwelling) 'the indwelling God'

Friday: braggart - A person who boasts about their achievements or possessions

Saturday: contretemps - A minor dispute or disagreement: e.g. 'she had occasional contretemps with her staff'

Sunday: vinaceous - Of the colour of red wine

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

I came across this battered old book in a local charity shop, and it is utterly charming!

It's full of poems and beautiful colour plates.



And the dedication is very special!

Pesky Pockets

Does anyone else have a problem with pockets?!

You try on a dress, you love it, BUT - it has pockets. The inset type of pockets that sit fine now, but once it's been through the wash will go all bunchy and annoying, and give you odd looking lumps on your hips. It's a pet peeve.

Admittedly, maybe the real problem here is that I don't iron things. Maybe ironing is the secret?! But dammit I'm not starting now!

My current solution is whip-stitching the pockets closed, then cutting them off and dabbing fray stopper on the raw edges. There's probably a better and more proper way, but it's easy and it works.

Pesky pockets, be gone!

Words of the Week: Week 3

6/10/14 to 12/10/14

Monday: entelechy - The realization of potential

Tuesday: trite - (Of a remark or idea) lacking originality or freshness; dull on account of overuse: e.g. ‘this point may now seem obvious and trite’

Wednesday: tapster - A person who draws and serves alcoholic drinks at a bar

Thursday: sfumato - (Art) The technique of allowing tones and colours to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms

Friday: contronym - A word with two opposite meanings: e.g. sanction (which can mean both ‘a penalty for disobeying a law’ and ‘official permission or approval for an action’)

Saturday: arrogate - Take or claim (something) without justification: e.g. ‘they arrogate to themselves the ability to divine the nation’s true interests’; ‘In this, the government with a good majority is actually arrogating the powers of Parliament'

Sunday: crotchety - Irritable: e.g. ‘he was tired and crotchety’

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Why start a blog?

Starting a blog is an idea that's been floating around in the back of my mind for ages. Finally a couple of months ago I started googling blogging, you know the kind of thing - 'how to start a blog', 'blogging tips', 'why start a blog'...

It was that last search that turned up an article on Becoming Minimalist called 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog, and it really struck a chord. Of the 15 reasons given, 5 in particular stood out for me personally:

• You'll become a better thinker
• You'll live a more intentional life
• You'll develop an eye for meaningful things
• You'll become more comfortable being known
• You'll become more confident

(The article goes into more detail on each of these - seriously, give it a read, it's great!)

I was convinced! It was the little nudge I needed. I decided to give it a go, and so here I am!

Words of the Week: Week 2

29/9/14 to 5/10/14

Monday: bamboozle - Cheat or fool: e.g. ‘Documents rarely set out to trick historians, but they can bamboozle the unwary at every turn’

Tuesday: bouffant - (Of a person’s hair) styled so as to stand out from the head in a rounded shape: e.g. 'a blonde lady with bouffant hair'

Wednesday: flagitious - (Of a person or their actions) criminal; villainous: e.g. ‘Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretence by a state legislature’

Thursday: jaunty - Having or expressing a lively, cheerful, and self-confident manner: e.g. 'there was no mistaking that jaunty walk'

Friday: obstreperous - Noisy and difficult to control: e.g. 'the boy is cocky and obstreperous'

Saturday: peripeteia - A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, especially in reference to fictional narrative: e.g. '1936 is the peripeteia, the point where the action turned'

Sunday: hippogriff - A mythical creature with the body of a horse and the wings and head of an eagle, born of the union of a male griffin and a filly

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.

Drying lemon verbena leaves

Earlier this year I got hold of a lemon verbena plant. It smells beautiful, and helps satisfy my love of herbal tea - just pluck some of the leaves and pop them in boiling water, it tastes gorgeous!

It's starting to lose it's leaves now, which is normal for this time of year. Come Spring it should start blooming again.

To stretch out my little home grown supply, I've been harvesting and drying the leaves. They dry out SO easily - I just lay them out on some kitchen roll for a couple of days and that's all that's needed.

A pot of tea with these will inject a little lemony sunshine into a grey Autumn/Winter day!

 

Words of the Week: Week 1

22/9/14 to 28/9/14

Monday: dinkum - Australian/NZ, informal - genuine, honest, true: e.g. 'a real dinkum bloke'

Tuesday: hypnopompic - Relating to the state immediately preceding waking up

Wednesday: dissonant - lacking harmony

Thursday: avenge - Inflict harm in return for (an injury or wrong done to oneself or another): e.g. 'he vowed in silent fervour to avenge their murders'

Friday: quiescent - In a state or period of inactivity or dormancy: e.g. 'strikes were headed by groups of workers who had previously been quiescent'

Saturday: gesundheit - Used to wish good health to a person who has just sneezed; from the German for 'health'

Sunday: lambent - (Of light or fire) glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance: e.g. ‘the magical, lambent light of the north’; ‘his eyes were huge and lambent in his starved face’

Words and definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online's Word of the Day.