Tuesday 10 September 2024

After the Fair was over . . .

 Sing that to the tune of "After the Ball was Over . . ."  It took me all day to empty the car yesterday as I could only do it a little bit at a time, as I was so tired.  I didn't start till about 11 a.m. Tam of course, was draped in Rosie most of the day, but she was good moral support.  At least everything is under cover, but I have to put away all the boxes currently lingering in kitchen and Utility.  I will put the rest of the groceries away this morning too.  I just did the frozen/chilled things last night (as I didn't get back from shopping till gone 6.30). 

She helped me sort all the things out that needed doing - trying to get Freeview on the tv (whoopee, long enough for me to watch a good bit of the Burghley Horse Trails x-country); filling in the last bits of the Army am-I-due-a-pension forms; finally managing to pay back the Army Pension overpayment - on my mobile as we just could NOT do it on line - the payment details couldn't be verified; and then checking what I would be paying Octopus each month, now I was using a lot less electricity on my own.  All really helpful positives and a weight off my mind.  


Some fabulous old carvings from fellow dealer Paul's wonderful stand.



A Bitossi corner on another stall.


Most dealers carry a variety of stock.  It just depends what they find at the right price.  


Others specialize in mainly one thing (quilts in this case).  I think most of them were the ones which were made in India and sold widely 15 or 20 years ago.




Some nice things here, but I think the rubber ducks may be a buying error . . .



Some interesting ceramics on this stall.


Then back to mine . . .  I have to say, looking at the Laurel Keeley piece, centre, I'm not enamoured of it because the motif reminds me of half an onion . . .  I like bright colourful glazes too, but that's just me.



Sorry, not the best photo, but it was a lovely oil painting dated 1926, and a couple fell in love with it.  I'd have been happy to keep it as it was so well done.  You can see it clearer (but smaller) in the photo above it.

Today I'm going to bake a Chocolate Courgette cake as one of the chaps helping the new neighbour has his birthday this week.  I have a large courgette from said new neighbour's garden which needs using up.  I may bake the cake for their Open House event on Saturday too, just in case the 2nd Shingles jab does lay me up.  I think it will be either a Dorset Apple cake or else as big slab of Date Gingerbread (as I have a surplus of dried dates to hand).

First though, as I am tripping over boxes of stock, they need to be put away . . .

19 comments:

  1. I’m not surprised you had a good fair - your stand looks full of pleasing things. Know what you mean about the onion though - which once you’d said it brought to mind those sad onion pots - I defy anyone to visit a charity shop and not spot one of those! I was pulling up sweet corn haulms yesterday and counting the baby courgettes to come on my three plants and thinking that none had got away this year and that we’ve picked and eaten every single courgette. You know it’s been a bad year when you don’t even have a courgette glut! The helpful and informed owner of the health food shop recommended magnesium for S’s restless legs last year and I duly bought a jar for about £12. But then I looked up natural sources of magnesium and it’s in all my favourite foods: greens from the garden, whole grains, nuts and seeds, good quality dark chocolate. So nowadays the only supplement S takes is Vitamin D on prescription. We ended up having a lovely end to a pretty dire weekend. The sun came out on Sunday afternoon and we went on a long [5 mile] walk from home and back for homemade chocolate and beetroot brownie in the garden. I fitted in a half an hour of gardening mostly deadheading roses and harvesting our supper (I made a quick and easy pan fry of shallot, garlic, potato all finely chopped or diced, two yellow courgettes finely sliced and chopped tomatoes and let it stew in the pan with the lid on for 30 mins. I finished the dish with a round of mozzarella melted through and lots of basil) and then collapsed in front of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow. Uninterrupted good sleep thankfully and up early to make porridge (oats, milk, yogurt, chia seeds and apple) as I go to yoga first thing. Yesterday was a good day too, the sun came out again and after a hair cut in the afternoon I had another lovely hour in the garden getting a lot done. I’ve started a new compost heap, made more new plants (Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White and cuttings of salvia Nachtvlinder) , harvested a colander of tomatoes and another of greens and enlarged with my half moon edger the three circles around my apple trees. Ground lovely and soft for that job and hopefully the bigger circles will protect the trees a bit better as I keep losing bits to my enthusiastic mower. We had a lovely supper of roast lamb (delayed from Sunday as I wasn’t in the mood) and after clearing up retired to the sitting room to watch Jamie Oliver. Then early to bed for me as I was tired. Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary and there are Heritage Open Day events happening today. It’s film show in church tonight so we’ll have a quick and easy supper - probably cheesey leeky pasta as I bought leeks from the farm shop yesterday. It’s just one day at a time at the moment but I know as long as I exercise, eat well, see my friends and have a potter in the garden I am ok. I was down in the dumplings at the weekend because these lifelines weren’t happening but as soon as I put a few of them in place I bounced back. Honestly, Sunday morning I was ready to run away and start a new life. It is hard looking after a husband with PD and friends tell me I need to apply for Attendance and Carers allowance so I may start to consider that. I can leave S for up to a couple of hours during the day if I know he is well-nourished (he eats breakfast, lunch and supper and three nutritious snacks in between - the food prep feels endless) but increasingly he is needing help with washing and dressing and early morning before the drugs kick in and at bedtime and sometimes through the night are a challenge. For better or worse, in sickness and in health … I know you understand BB. Sarah x

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    1. Oh gosh yes - onion pots, and beetroot ones. Hideous! I always look forward to reading what you've been up to, and your lovely meals. I am not very inventive with mine these days, although I did get some small-cut beef yesterday which I cooked up and then put with rice, onion, home-grown beefsteak tomatoes, and a bowlful of Goulash juice/jelly from the Goulash Tam and I finished off on Sunday for my tea tonight. Like a Goulash Risotto! The other half will be lunch tomorrow and the rest of the beef will be a beef curry, which I've not had for ages.

      I used the last fat courgette from neighbour Ed in the Chocolate Courgette cake and it is good not to be haunted by it in the fridge bottom any more! My courgette plant gave up the ghost about 10 days ago and is on the compost heap. Lots of courgettes on it but they kept going mouldy.

      I think Sunday's torrential rain hastened both the Swallows AND the House Martins back to Africa. It is sad to see the skies empty of their swooping shapes.

      I've been watching Timeteam programmes on Youtube, including one from 2022 which we never saw, from Whittington Castle - a favourite stop-off point on the way to Granny C's in Manchester, back in the day. We always fed the ducks there. They were looking for a chapel from the time of the Knight's Hospitalers in the area. HOW Keith would have enjoyed watching that.

      I would say definitely put in for the Attendance and Carers allowance. I am sorry that care for S is becoming more arduous and believe me, I know exactly how difficult it is and the strain it puts you under. All I can say is, I feel so guilty in desperately trying to get time away for a break. Now I would try and spend as much time with Keith as I could, as he got frailer but I was very close to breaking point and I feel that the guilt is really not that justified.

      Just when I thought I was on top of the Official Letters, I had another one today and Tam tells me we must itemise everything Keith owned and its value . . . Oh won't that be fun.

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  2. I used to love Antique fairs but daren't go to them now as I'd be tempted to buy some of those ceramics, which I love. I hope you did well, your stall tempted me!

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    1. It's always good to hear that I have tempted someone - in spirit anyway!

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  3. Just the song that came to mind as soon as I saw the title!!

    It is always an anticlimax and a lot of work sorting after a fair..but that looks a good one.
    Happy baking!!

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    1. I enjoyed my baking today and the Date Gingerbread made two cakes, so I will freeze the smaller one. I am back to empty house blues now . . . I am certain you know what those feel like.

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  4. Your stand looks so lovely...I do love ceramics and pottery...I have a weakness for little dishes and bowls for which I have no practical use, I just like them. I have no knowledge but I know what I like :). Your stall is so well laid-out...some of them can be such a jumbly hodge-podge and as a viewer, the visual overwhelm might make me pass by rather than have to sort through the chaos. The rubber ducks were definitely an error....and they jar the look of the stall...a bit out of place to say the least. I hope you can rest up before (and after) your jab. ~ Melanie xo

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    1. Thank you Melanie. I try and put different pieces out when I can. I have some absolutely HUGE things which I need to car boot or something - giant glass bowls, and a good, and old, Japanese plate which Eric Knowles remarked on when he was doing Bargain Hunt at the Botanic Gardens Fair. It's difficult to stand it up for display though.

      I think the rubber ducks spoil the look of the stall - who wants to do a Duck Race? Not many!

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  5. Oh I would have been so tempted by that lovely oil painting, it's beautiful.

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    1. I did think about keeping it, but have too many pictures already.

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  6. I was already singing along before you said.
    Is that a candle holder on the Bitossi stall? The brown dish on the middle right?
    Methinks duckies are lining up for a Duck Race, maybe?
    Take your time putting away, no sense in wearing yourself out.

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    1. It does look a bit like a candle holder. Duck Race duckies indeed, but Out of Place! Have Put Away now and rested this afternoon.

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  7. Love seeing the booths, even the Duckies and repro quilts, if that's what they are. The old carvings have and African or South Pacific feel, are they English or Welsh? One could write an entire doctoral thesis on the similarities to that one to a S Seas Tiki carving.

    Wonderful that Tam can help you, baby Rosy strapped to chest and all. This winter R will be starting to walk, maybe. Imagine that!

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  8. PS If you clear out your barn/ stables , would that make a space that is easier to load/ unload ana store your inventory?

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  9. Lizzy - yes, I have tidied in the stables and the tables, folding chairs and display stands went away very neatly. I have some boxes of "stuff" out there, but glass needs keeping in the warm, and don't leave my best china out there either. The treen (wooden stuff) also needs to be somewhere dry and warm.

    There were one or two home-made quilts, but there were so many which came from India they are all over the place now and people who don't know any better think they are made here and worth more money.

    The carvings are English and Welsh - they will have come from churches etc - think of the damage in the Reformation here - although some are probably decorative pieces from church furniture. Paul has quite a following at the Fairs he does.

    The thought of Rosie crawling (and having to move everything she would reach for) is daunting enough. Walking - well, we'll cope with that in due course.

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  10. Some lovely stuff at the Fair, o would be tempted by the painting, ceramics and quilts but not the rubber ducks 😀
    The date gingerbread sounds lovely - have you put the recipe on your blog before?
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. It's quite a big Fair so plenty to see. The posher stands in the front buildings I don't get to visit much once I'm all set up but there is always some lovely old furniture on display. Before we sold there, Keith and I would always visit and have a leisurely walk round (after the sprint to the Back Sheds to start with!)

      I'll put up the recipe for the Date Gingerbread shortly. It's a variation on the basic gingerbread recipe and I've not tried that variation before.

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  11. You did have a great stall with some lovely items. As others have said, very tempting! I've not found anything close to your fairs over here. The chocolate courgette cake is also tempting! Sounds delicious.

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    1. Glad you liked my things. The Chocolate Courgette cake is a surprise birthday cake for the chap helping new neighbour out. Have to drizzle some melted dark chocolate over it this morning.

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