Mayday!

What happens on MAYDAY where you live?

Here in Minehead we have the Sailors Horse

Lilies Day - 16 and the Sailor's Horse

One of the last heads to open

When you hear the beat of the drum...........

You know the Sailor's Horse is on it way past your house!

We don't live anywhere near the centre of town yet we can hear the drum!

Lilies Day - 15 and What happened to the last four months?

And the last two buds pop!

Its the !st May.  What has happened to the last four months?  A third of the way through the year.  It is very sunny here, but I see on the weather forecast that some of you still have rain, but things can only improve I'm sure.

This is what happens where I live on the 1st May.  Everyone gets woken up at about 5am by the banging of a drum.  The Horse is blessed and sent on its way through the town.  It travels round the streets collecting money for local charities.

We have completed the length of the garden and we have now got to prickly corner  and the Stinging Nettles got me!  It still hurts but has now gone down!  Tomorrow we cut the grass again and sort the pots!  Then we start on the front garden and that is a whole new different story!

Simnel Cake

I'll to thee a Simnell bring'Gainst thou go'st a mothering, So that, when she blesseth thee, Half that blessing thou'lt give to meI'll to thee a Simnell bring 'Gainst thou go'st a mothering, So that, when she blesseth thee, Half that blessing thou'lt give to me circ17thCentury

Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday. Originally the Simnel Cake was made for Mother's Day by girls in service who were given the day off to visit their mothers. The name is believed to come from a brother (Simon) and sister (Nell) who wanted to make a cake for their mother. During the Middle Ages the custom developed of allowing people who had moved away to visit their home churches, and their mothers, on the fourth Sunday of the Christian festival of Lent. The Simnel Cake signifies the end of Lent which is a period of fasting and repentance culminating in a feast of seasonal and symbolic foods. This cake is now made for Easter. On the top of the cake, around the edge, are eleven marzipan balls to represent the true disciples of Jesus; Judas is omitted. Marzipan Weight of 3 eggs in their shells Butter, Caster Sugar and Flour 1 lb dried mixed fruit 1 tsp ground cinnamon. 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg. Apricot jam (or any jam that happens to be open!) Line a 7 inch cake tin with parchment or greaseproof paper (like you would a Christmas cake). Divide the almond paste into three and take one portion and roll it to a round the size of the cake tin. Cream together the butter and sugar and eggs till very pale in colour. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and then add to the mixture. Fold in gently. Put half of the cake mixture into the tin, smooth and cover with the round of almond paste. Put the remaining cake mixture on the top of the marzipan smooth the surface carefully. Bake in a warm oven, 140°C (gas mark 1) for about 3 hours,test after about 2hours Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. When cold roll another third of almond paste, again to the size of the tin. Make the remaining almond paste equally into eleven balls. Once the cake is completely cold, remove from the tin and brush the top of the cake with jam and cover with the disc of almond paste. Place the eleven balls of paste onto a heat proof dish and grill till brown. Place the marzipan balls evenly around the edge of the cake.

May Day Weekend (I wasn't driving honest!)

Leave Tescos carpark and turn left,
turn left again,
drive over the West Somerset Railway
then turn left again, drive along the seafront

Then turn left again, and drive through the town

.......and being the May Day weekend.....

You may get to see the elusive

THE ORIGINAL SAILORS HORSE

(the horse is only seen from 1st May for a few days)

Happy Valentines Day

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.
The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.
Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feast. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

What year was you born?

Cantonese:Gung Hay Fat Choy! (may prosperity be with you)
Mandarin:Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year)

Chinese New Year begins according to the Chinese calendar which consists of both Gregorian and lunar-solar calendar systems. Because the track of the new moon changes from year to year, Chinese New Year can begin anytime between late January and mid-February.

Hallowe'en...........

.......the night when the dead are said to rise from their graves,

witches and goblins are thought to be at their most active.

The time for mishief making and magic!

A traditional Hallowe'en decoration is a Pumpkin or Turnip lantern head.

To make a Pumpkin or Turnip head slice of the top and and scoop out the

flesh. The cut a face into the skin and put a candle inside

From ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord, deliver us!

(Cornish prayer)

Twelve weeks to go...........

............. to Christmas!

The Sailors Horse

This is a tradition in Minehead to see the Sailors Horse every 1st May
www.minehead-online.co.uk/hobbyhorse.htm

Easter Day

Easter day falls between 21st March and 25th April, the date depending on the first full moon of spring. It is calculated at the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the 21st March, but is the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter in the following Sunday.

Eggs which are popular at Easter are ancient symbols of spring and rebirth - the renewal of life

Good Friday

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!

One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters, give them to your sons

One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns

a children's rhyme

The buns are generally sold at Easter. They commemorate the religious significant of the Christian festival which celebrates the resurrection following the crucifixion on the cross.

End of the Old...............

31st December, 2007! The decorations are being taken down to start the new year afresh, a normal practice in our house, usually this is done on 1st January but we are going out tomorrow! This year the lights (brand new LED sort) nearly worked! I was not impressed with the only one hour of the pretty lights glowing daily - next year back to the old fashioned bulb sort!

I hear you cry.........but.........this is New Years Eve! I must be getting old, I'll be in bed by ten and asleep, I'm not a party person. It'll be next year tomorrow and another day! I have lots of plans though to Knit, Embroider, design Cross Stitch. Oh dear! The brain is working faster than the fingers. I also plan to take a photo everyday. That is if I can get that task sussed without help from anyone - I'll keep you posted on that one (well you will see anyway as time goes on). The photo taking is the easy bit (she thinks), its getting the picture from the camera to the blog.........