Guy Fawkes Day

Who was Guy Fawkes and why have we been celebrating his attempted act of terrorism and treachery for over 400 years? He was born Robert Catesby in Yorkshire in 1570. After his Protestant father died his mother married a fervent Catholic and Catesby converted to Catholicism. He later left for the continent where he fought on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers. He also tried to get support from Spain for a Catholic uprising in England, without success. It was during his travels that he adopted the name Guido, shortened to Guy.

Back in England in 1605 he orchestrated an assassination attempt against King James I, hoping it would restore the Catholic monarchy to England.

Fawkes and 12 others decided that violent action was the only way to highlight their cause. They planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament, hoping to kill the King, maybe the Prince of Wales and the members of Parliament who were making life difficult for Catholics.

However as they worked on the plot it became clear that innocent people would be injured or killed. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts and one of them sent an anonymous letter to his friend, Lord Monteagle warning him to stay away from Parliament on the 5th November. The letter reached the King and his forces made plans to catch the conspirators. In the early hours of November 5th the authorities stormed the cellars and found Fawkes with 36 barrels of gunpowder and fuses. If their plan had succeeded it would have been carnage.
Fawkes was arrested and the gunpowder was removed. Such was the relief that the King was safe bonfires were set alight later that night, thus starting the tradition of bonfire night or Guy Fawkes night. The tradition was added to by the burning of an effigy of Fawkes.
Under torture Fawkes identified his co-conspirators. Four were killed attempting to escape. The remaining eight were imprisoned in the Tower of London before being tried and executed for High Treason. They and Fawkes were hanged, drawn and quartered. They knew how to deal with violent criminals in those days!

The gunpowder plot struck a profound chord for the people of England, triggering routine searches of the cellars of Westminster. This became a tradition that continues to this day. The reigning monarch visits Parliament once a year for the State Opening, prior to the opening the Yeoman of the Guard (the monarch's personal bodyguards) search the cellars and vaults.

Holding traditional lanterns and wearing Tudor uniforms, the Yeomen march through the underground passageways beneath the Houses of Parliament checking for hidden explosives, plotters, or structural hazards before giving the "all clear" for the monarch to arrive safely. While modern security teams conduct exhaustive technical sweeps beforehand, this historical ceremony remains a required opening act of the day.

Remember, remember the 5th of November

gunpowder treason and plot.

I see no reason

why gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot.

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x 

A Good Read

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
In 1843 in Canada West, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery were murdered by two of Mr Kinnear’s employees. Servants Grace Marks and James McDermott were convicted of the crime. McDermott was hanged and Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Although the novel is based on factual events, Atwood constructs a narrative with a fictional doctor, Simon Jordan, who researches the case.

Grace had been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A committee of gentlemen and ladies from the Methodist church, led by the minister, hoped to have her pardoned and released. Grace cannot remember what happened on the day of the murders, and she exhibits symptoms of hysteria, so the minister hires Dr. Simon Jordan, a psychiatrist, to interview her, hoping he will find her to be a hysteric, and not a criminal. An arrangement is made for Jordan to interview Grace during afternoons in the sewing room in the governor's mansion. While Jordan is ostensibly conducting research into criminal behaviour, he slowly becomes personally involved in Grace's story and seeks to reconcile his perception of the mild-mannered woman he sees with the murder of which she has been convicted.
In 1872, after almost thirty years incarceration, Grace was pardoned and moved to Upstate New York, after which all definitive historical trace of her was lost.

Graces’ story is thoroughly absorbing.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Autumn

Surely one of the best things about Autumn is COLOUR. As temperatures drop trees start to prepare themselves for winter by preserving energy. Their leaves steadily change from green, to yellow, orange, deep red and then create a pretty kaleidoscope carpet on the ground.

My garden is looking ok, most of the Autumn pruning has been done, the lawn has been mowed. It takes me quite a while to get it all done, my son-in-law helps but I think next year I will need the help of a regular gardener.

Daylight hours are shorter. We are having some lovely mild sunny days but it's getting chilly at night time, the winter duvet is on.

And of course in Autumn we celebrate Guy Fawkes with bonfires and fireworks, and, very popular here in the UK now, Halloween.

🎃 Be safe and well 🎃 

Polly x 

A Good Read

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is a poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.
Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.
Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them - the bank robber included - desperately crave some sort of rescue.
As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

It's a cleverly  constructed story full of humour, compassion, forgiveness, and hope. I enjoyed it.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Scarecrows

A scarecrow is a human shaped figure, usually made of straw and dressed in old clothes and placed in a field to frighten birds away from growing crops. The first part of the word 'scare' is self-explanatory, the second part 'crow' is so called because the Crow has an insatiable appetite for seeds in growing crops.

Scarecrows are used around the world by farmers and are a notable symbol of farms and the countryside. The English word dates back to the 1550s. Before people made straw-stuffed figures, an actual person would run through the fields and shout at birds. What an arduous job!

We had a Scarecrow Trail around the village this weekend with lots of participants.

These two look a bit scary. The face of the one on the left reminds me a bit of Beetlejuice. They can't be too scary though with this cute puppy in the pocket! 

The Primary School

Homage to Team GB Equestrian Olympic achievements

brilliant use of lots of materials

This is just too cute to be scary

Very scary

Gingerbread Man

Harry Potter

Brownies

Fred - A - Straw & Ginger - Rumbas

Made by a lady who runs a dance group

Very clever

Gone Fishing

Another one with brilliant use of lots of materials

"I'm not sure I should be up this ladder!"

Love the ball and chain!

David Attenborough

This won the Funniest Scarecrow

The Greatest Shoo Man

a great play on words

and 

Where's that pesky crow - on top of his hat!

I don't know if there were other winners in other categories.

Lots of people had lots of fun making their scarecrows,

and I think most of the village turned out to view them.

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x 

A Good Read

The 6.20 Man by David Baldacci
Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. His journey takes him past the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, and as he gazes out of the train window he dreams about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance.
Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: "She is dead".
Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building - presumably a suicide, prompting the NYPD to come calling. If that wasn’t enough, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the Army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm.
This treacherous role will take Travis from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda.

It's a good plot, I enjoyed it.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Pride & Prejudice

Some friends and I went to see Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) on Saturday. 

It was a triumph in the West End where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy and the Evening Standard Award. It's a unique and very funny retelling of  Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones are fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance. It's not billed as a musical but it does include a few pop classics including 'Young Hearts Run Free', 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' and the unforgettable classic by Carly Simon 'You’re So Vain'.

It’s the 1800s

It's party time

Let the ruthless matchmaking begin!

It was brilliant

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x 

A Good Read

I Remember Paris by Lucy Diamond

Jess Bright, single mum and journalist, feels her life has stalled, so when she is offered a writing job in Paris for the summer, she leaps at the chance to go. She always felt that she left a piece of her heart in the city years before.
Her subject is the iconic artist Adelaide Fox, whose personal life has been steeped in scandal and intrigue. Now approaching eighty, Adelaide is ready to tell her side of the story - and serve up some scalding-hot revenge in the process. Amidst a stormy working relationship, Jess and Adelaide must face up to their pasts. As passionate affairs, terrible betrayals and life-changing secrets surface, there may be more surprises in store than either of them dared imagine.

I thought this would be yet another twee romance but I was wrong. I enjoyed it, reading about Adelaide’s life, and about how Jess turns her life around.

    

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Bonjour Mes Amis

On Friday we held a French themed evening in the village church. 

Myself and lovely friends planned it, set it up, dressed tables, served food and entertained our guests who entered into the spirit of the theme and dressed in all things French, including a Marcel Marceau.

The Brownies made the pretty table decorations. 

Platters of assorted meats, accompaniments and French bread were served, red and white wine were on each table and a bar was available for other drinks

including a delicious mocktail

There were quizzes including French picture bingo, oui or non, téte or derrière, we had singing and roll a euro towards a bottle of brandy, the closest won the brandy. That was very popular.

The evening ended with the raffle.

I was hoping to win the meal for two at our village pub.

Everyone had a great time.

The proceeds will be donated between the village Pre-School and the Brownies.

🇫🇷 Be safe and well 🇫🇷 

Polly x 

A Good Read

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live her life as it would have been had she done things differently, and to undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out the perfect life.

But life isn't always what she imagined it to be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

I enjoyed this. How many of us have wondered "What if ..... how would life have turned out"? Nora had the chance to experience that.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Weekend

My weekend has been very quiet but productive. I did a bit of tidying in the garden yesterday morning, then, after a sit down I planned to mow the lawn, however as I approached the back door this is what I saw  

two wood pigeons

preening, resting and gleaning

I took the photos from indoors because they would have flown away if I had opened the door. I didn't have the heart to disturb them, they looked so content! so I decided to put lawn mowing on hold and start some quilting. I haven't done any for ages and really enjoyed it.

   

They were there for over an hour then eventually they wandered off but by that time I was well into the quilting and didn't want to stop. I mowed the lawn this morning.

That gnome is my favourite, it's a man and his dog,

my daughter bought it for me.

This afternoon was the last of the summer cream teas on the church lawn, and once again it was well attended and the cakes were delicious. 

   
I had the toffee fudge on the left, it was scrumptious. The lady that baked it makes excellent cakes. I was late taking photos, too busy talking and eating cake!! 

Lovely countryside from a recent walk

I hope you've had a good weekend dear reader

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x