The last butternut squash was stored in the onion barn. We brought it to the house to make it into soup. It’s so enormous that I have only used a third of the squash so far.
Jeremy noticed that the bag in which we had hung the butternut squash came from a farm in Devon, very close to where we lived on a 2 acre small holding over forty years ago.
A string bag brought back many happy memories.
That’s the name that mum gave to her neighbour in the Care Home when Dame Barbara Windsor moved there in July. Our family had crossed paths with her before.
My brother and I grew up on a diet of cowboy movies and also saucy “Carry On” films with their quintessential British humour of double entendres, nods and winks. Seaside postcard humour transposed to the big screen. Barbara Windsor was one of the stars and, dare I say, we all loved her.
When my children were at primary school we were eating in a restaurant with my parents and a foreign visitor. Barbara Windsor was at a nearby table and the children (at our instigation) went to talk with her. She was lovely to them, although they probably didn’t really know who she was. That all changed when she joined the cast of the soap opera, East Enders, playing the landlady of the Queen Vic. In the serial one of Jeremy’s clients, Daniella Westbrook, played Sam Mitchell the daughter of landlady Peggy Mitchell (Dame Barbara). One day Jeremy had to go and visit his client on the set of the “soap” in Borehamwood.
He asked if he could bring his children and their cousins to the studios and it was agreed. The teenagers wanted to meet the main characters and Jeremy was keen to meet the blonde Barbara. She was gracious and friendly and gave Jeremy a signed photograph that sat on our mantelpiece in London for many years. Dame Barbara was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and left East Enders, living quietly with her third husband and helping to publicise the need for help with research and care for her progressive disease. In July Barbara Windsor became a resident in the same Care Home as mum. Mum said she always looked lovely and was tiny (she was only four foot ten inches tall). Mum called her, “the little lady”. I had to tell mum, this morning, that the “little lady” had passed away. Mum was sad and told me that she hadn’t seen her in the lounge in recent weeks. “But when I saw her”, mum said, “she always spoke to me and said “hello darling”!”. As Daniella said to the press, “today we lost a legend, a national treasure and I lost a friend”.
An outbreak of Avian flu has led Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to order that all poultry and turkeys must be kept under cover until further notice. We have moved all the large birds into the green poly tunnel in the chicken run.
The Silkies and the bantams are living in the old quail barn. All seems fine except that the grey Bantam cockerel and one of the Silkie cockerels are fighting and both are a bit “bloody” this morning.
Another farmyard expression that rang true this afternoon as we drove the geese to the duck pond. One “silly goose” decided to go off in the wrong direction and J had to chase after her and carry her under his arm .
Daughter, Professor Rosa Freedman, is one of the witnesses giving evidence to the Committee
The gender recognition certificate review and transgender issues have become toxic areas of debate with “no platforming of academics” who dare to raise their voices or even ask for a civilised discussion on these issues. I rushed home from “open air” Tai Chi at the Riverside Park in order to listen to the live streaming from Parliament.
It was a foggy, early morning trip down to London but it was good to see mum looking well
Then, a surprise for mum, two of her great grandchildren arrived. School was closed but not because of Covid but due to a heating failure. Mum was thrilled to see them.
The other great grandson shared his latest idea on WhatsApp
My lovely niece, one of mum’s four grown up grandchildren, is performing in a Covid secure, Soho burlesque show tonight. She goes by the name of Lulu LaRouge!
