The Poppy Lady

I always thought the Poppy Appeal was started by the British Legion.  I was wrong.

On Saturday 9th November 1918, two days before the Armistice was declared, Moina Belle Michael was in New York browsing through a magazine when she came across this poem by Lieutenant Colonel John Mc Crae, a Canadian doctor:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Later she was describe reading it as a spiritual experience.  She made a personal pledge to always wear a poppy to keep faith with the men who died.  She scribbled a quick response to Mc Crae's poem:

                            Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
                            Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
                            We caught the torch you threw
                            And holding high, we keep the Faith
                            With All who died.

She scoured the shops and purchased 25 red silk poppies.  Wearing one herself she distributed the others amongst delegates attending a conference at the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries' headquarters in New York where she worked. She realised the importance of getting the symbol adopted nationally and spent the next two years campaigning.  In September 1920 the National American Legion (an organisation set up by veterans to help man who served in the First World War) convened in Cleveland. The Convention agreed to use the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy as the United States' national emblem of Remembrance.

A French woman, Anna Guérin, was present at the Convention and inspired by Moina Belle Michael's idea she returned to Europe and set about making artificial poppies to sell.  The profits would be used to help orphaned French children and to rebuild the devastated areas of the country.




By 11th November 1921 the first British Legion Poppy Day Appeal was launched.

It's beginning to feel alot like ....

I know I should have gone to the allotment!  I know I have to dig it over before the ground freezes.  I know I told Rooko at Don't Lose the Plot that I would go today!  Well, I didn't! I did this instead:



It looks like all I did was sweep the path but it took me all day!  I dug out every weed and unwanted holly shoot; cut back the fir tree; dug up and relaid some of the paving stones and planted tulip and daffodil bulbs ... then I swept the path!  I'm going to plant Lupins in the middle.  My youngest son was throwing away an old tent which I rescued to see if I can use it to create a 'Living Wall' structure to cover that fence.
                      

                             

 While I was busy the Sparrowhawk made a brief appearance before being seen off by a Magpie and the Robin kept me entertained by singing between mouthfuls of grubs. 

 Seeing him sitting in the Holly tree obviously made me start to think about Christmas in six weeks time.  When I came inside I spent some time visiting craft sites and picking out some nice ideas.  Now I hope you are sitting comfortably because this is going to take up your time!! 



These great little finger puppets are wonderful to make with/for young kids.  I think they would be a lovely surprise for inside a home-made Christmas cracker on the table too. The instructions can be found on Urban Comfort - I spent ages on this site as it is full of beautiful ideas for the home.   The author, Suzonne Stirling, is a professional crafter whose work is featured in top magazines.

Another interesting site was Fave Crafts. These felt hearts are in the Valentine Day section - there isn't a Christmas section - there is a Jewish holiday section though. They look easy to make and I thought they could be used as gift tags on presents or sent instead of Christmas cards or, obviously, used to hang on the tree.  I liked the country kitchen look of them!

This site doesn't look very inspiring but it's author is Robert Sabuda - he is a brilliant Pop- Up Book artist.  A couple of years ago I spent hours cutting out body parts so a turkey popped out of the Xmas card.  He had posted it in the Thanksgiving section.  This one looks classy and pretty straight forward compared to the turkey.  There's a snowman, a Santa and a snowflake too. 

You may need to translate the text on Craft and Creativity - Google   will do it for you at the push of a button!                                   Would you prefer to get a present in a shop carrier bag or one that is beautifully wrapped?  The delight of opening a huge bow and removing the coloured paper is part of pleasure.  These covered gift boxes will turn the simplest trinket into a real treat.  You can get quite cheap wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes from Boxy Lady.

'Peas' should be pronounced 'Peace' as these little pods are made from felted wool and designed for the front of a Christmas card with the message 'Peas on Earth.  Good wool to all men!'.  You can find the instructions at Betz White.                                                         

All Free Sewing has a wealth of ideas including an free ebook explaining how to make Christmas Ornaments.

As you would expect Martha Stewart has masses of ideas for Chritmas.

If you want ideas for hand-made gifts you will be spoilt for choice at Purl Bee

 I have some rather clever friends and relatives who make Christmas cards every year:



Now should I tackle that allotment or get the water colours out tomorrow?

What a difference a day makes ...

I started to write a new post last night:



This young hedghog was born near us earlier this year and she (or he!) has been a regular visitor each evening.  We leave the uneaten catfood out for her and the plate is always licked clean. 

I am hoping she moves into my hedghog house to hibernate in the next few weeks.  It is in a quiet place tucked away under a bush, there are plenty of dry, dead leaves for bedding and I've placed food near it to help her locate it. 



That's as far as I got before I was called away.





In my imagination this little hedghog grew to maturity, found a mate and produced a healthy brood of happy piglets (?) while I watched and provided the catfood!

Well, it is not to be.

I went out this morning and returned to the sight of a dead body in the middle of the lane. 

A road accident then. 

It is a very common cause of death for hedghogs .... our lane is a dead end with only a dozen properties yet two young hedghogs have died here in a matter of weeks.  Surveys reveal that approximately 15,000 hedghogs are killed on our roads each year .... how do they know that??  Who do they ask?? I have an image of a geek scientist in a white coat, carrying a clipboard, knocking on doors.  Obviously that's not what they do!

What they actually do is quite paradoxical.  By going for a 20 mile drive and counting the number of dead hedghogs they measure not, as you would expect, how many hedghogs have been killed by cars but how many hedghogs there are for cars to kill!  The more dead hedghogs the better as that indicates a healthy number of live hedghogs apparently!

According to the British Hedghog Preservation Society numbers are declining rapidly ... 25% in 10 years and no one seems to be certain of the causes.  Increased use of pesticides is the most favoured theory, but we have known that for years.  Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published in 1962 (named as one of the top 25 greatest science books of all time); it led to the ban on DDT.  Pesticides are now tested, regulated and labelled.  We have 'hedghog friendly' slug pellets ... a healthy hedghog can eat masses of the blue crunchy stuff, or about 5,000 poisoned slugs, before it proves fatal. They make it sound quite innocent!  It is still killing the slugs ... reducing the hedghogs' food supply. 

A better way to get rid of slugs is caffeine.  Slug Snub Caffeine Spray repels slugs and snails and is safe to use on plants. Alternatively you can collect the slimy creatures and rub them all over your face ... apparently the slime is the latest cure for wrinkles!


If you are interested in providing a hedghog shelter for your garden click here.

End of Month - October 2012

Sedum, Cyclamen and Fuschia are the main features of the garden now but there are still some Sunflowers, Dahlias and Marigolds adding to the colour.  The Hydrangea was covered in yellow, dying leaves yesterday ... today it is bare branched. It's like someone pressed a button and the leaves dropped off.

 I have taken some hardwood cuttings and planted a few spring bulbs but I'm more inclined to be indoors now the weather is turning.  I'm enjoying snuggling up in a warm armchair with a good book ( 'Bring Up The Bodies' by Hilary Mantel if you're interested ... thoroughly entertaining!) and a cup of tea! I know I should be digging the allotment over .....


A Sparrowhawk visited us today.  I glanced out of the kitchen window and there it was in the middle of the lawn eyeing up the bird feeders.  It stayed until Andy was just seconds away from seeing it before it flew off!

Twelve pheasants troop across the field each morning now.  Such beautiful colours.  This one looks like he has a stiff evening collar on.

... and here's a Collared Dove.

Visit the Patient Gardener for more End of the Month views.

Squashed Pumpkins

I have memories of carving a toothy grin in a pumpkin when the kids were little.  It was a messy affair, nothing like this creation from the Martha Stewart website. It looks lovely and must have taken ages. 

Some friends have been showing off their skills too:

We passed a table full of pumpkins on the drive back from Norfolk last week.  The farmer was charging 50p but I didn't want one then!  Knew I should have stopped!

One of the books in the cottage at Norfolk was the Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook.  I rarely cook but looking at the recipes I was quite taken in by what we SHOULD be eating.  Andy contacted Amazon so Sarah was waiting for me when we got back home!

Tonight we made Squash and Cumin soup.  Delicious!

 I have added my version of the recipe here.

Cheap and Cheerful!

I have been spurred on by Elaine at Ramblings from Rosebank.  She posted some lovely ideas for indoor bulbs.

I decided to follow her lead and plant a few for winter but first of all I needed a few pots.

I got these two bulb vases for 20p each in a charity shop.

The blue/white dish cost £1.50 and the butterfly bowl was £1.  The cottage jug is part of a tea set I bought years ago. The small glass bowls at the back were 50p and the larger glass bowl was £5 from Asda.

I planted white and pink hyacinths, grape hyacinths and white and yellow crocuses (£1 to £2 a pk in Wilko).

So I had a lovely afternoon doing some of my favourite things ... blogging, shopping and gardening!

Norfolk

The North Norfolk coast is a beautiful place.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and had a brief walk around Snettisham Nature Reserve.  The first thing I noticed was the blackberries.  Acres and acres of bushes just waiting for a jam-maker but we weren't there for that.  The geese were shouting to be seen.  You can get amazing views of waders at this reserve as the tide comes in and pushes the feeding birds off the massive mud flats.  Unfortunately we missed the tide.  We got impressive views of the empty mudflats!

We saw about fifty species before the rain began and we headed in.

That night we ate at The King's Head in Great Bircham .... excellent food and service.  I would recommend it if you are in that area.

The next day we headed for Cley and got the best views of Bearded Tits.  Four even posed on a bush for a few seconds. I enjoyed looking at them too much to faff about with my camera but Andy managed to grab a shot.










This Little Egret was an easier subject.

Two Red Throated Divers came right up to the water's edge to feed. 





It was a lovely weekend in good company in a beautiful place.  We saw about 100 species of birds including Rough Legged Buzzard but it was the common old Starlings that were the most memorable aspect of the trip ... thousands of them.  Huge flocks on the move during Saturday.  Then we didn't see any on Sunday.

I love my house but I came home wanting to move to Norfolk ... no, wanting to move into the cottage we had rented in Norfolk.  It was a typical old property filled with pine furniture, beautiful pottery, books, odd cushions and patchwork quilts.  The walls were painted yellow or orange and the ceilings sloped. Outside it was covered in Virginia Creeper.  There are two bodies of thought about allowing plants to grow up walls.  On the positive side it acts as insultation but the negative view is it can destroy the bricks and motar. Our house has ivy growing up one side and every year we have to trim it back (that's the royal 'we' by the way ... no way will I climb a ladder to the top of the house!). We have never seen any damage to the wall when we pull it off but we are careful not to let it attach itself to the wooden window frames as it can leave sucker marks on the wood.