Things go with a 'Bang!', I learn another new phrase, nature's foibles, plus the usual weekly mixture.

At the moment here in North Norfolk, it's breezy but dry. Later this afternoon it is expected to get windy and wet, due to the tail end of Hurricane Bill moving across from the Irish Sea/Atlantic sea coasts, to the North Sea. Fortunately for us, by the time it gets here, Bill will be almost blowed out, but the rain will be welcome.

I decided to make fish goujons for our evening meal, preparing them this morning, leaving them to chill and the coating to set, in the fridge. So I got out my trusty old blender, attached the coffee bean smashing bit, and prepared to make breadcrumbs. This may sound a little strange to you, but it works for me! Of course, you can only make a small amount at a time, so you need patience for this. I got the first batch made, and then put in the crusts for the second, switched on and BANG! Puffs of smelly smoke, horrible smell... hastily switched off and unplugged the machine. I have been saying for more years than I care to remember that I should replace this, it's got to be over 25 years old, if not more. Now I have to... it could be something that husband could fix, but what's the point? Some of the attachments are past their best, so I might as well get a new one, Tesco probably do one for a fiver, which is good enough for the amount of times I use it! So, it was making breadcrumbs with the grater, and outside with the smelly old blender.

Those of you who know me, will know I love language, and words, and so I was delighted to discover, quite by chance yesterday lunchtime, a little programme of twenty minutes duration on channel five, about words and their meanings, presented by the sometimes slightly mad Tim Grundy. It was all to do with churches and associated subjects, and it was thanks to TG that I learnt another new phrase....'Four Wheeled Christians'. Husband couldn't figure out what it meant, can you? Apparently, this phrase refers to those people who only go to church on three occasions.... Christenings (pram wheels), Weddings (wedding cars) and Funerals (hearses). I suppose there will be those who say it doesn't matter why you go, or how often, just that you do. Just as there will be those who say it matters not, either way. Each to his own.

This is one of those little foibles of nature, thrown up to intrigue and bring a smile. The campion is happily flowering away, beautiful cerise flowers, except for just this one which opened up and revealed all its stripey glory. There are no others like it... strange or what?

I love knitting these little bags, found the pattern a few months ago and there has been no stopping me. But what to do with them all? Well, two of them have been put to good use I think, the above as a holder for gloves, and the the one below as a holder for small crochet projects, little balls of wool and a small hook. I am really into these comfortable hooks at the moment, they are so easy to hold and use.

It is thanks (I think!) to Vanessa (doyoumindifiknit) that I have got hooked, sorry, on small crocheted squares. Seeing hers reminded me of a project I made more years ago than I care to remember, consisting of small squares, sew together backed with a very fine cotton lawn, then sandwiched with fine wadding and a backing of pretty fabric. I stitched around the squares to give a lightly quilted effect.. it was a cover for a Moses-basket type crib I seem to remember. Anyway, the memory of it got me thinking, and without further ado I grabbed the small balls of leftover four ply, a 3.50 hook and made one and a half inch squares. Here are some of them, alongside a scarf I just finished crocheting in hand dyed Araucania wool from Chile, which is expensive, but I have just found an online shop that sells it for almost half price.

And here are some more. And no, I haven't a clue what I am going to do with them, possibly a cushion cover as I have a crocheted front in stripes, that needs a back, made of similar colours.

Books, as usual feature. These are two I have just bought myself as I am always on the look out for different ideas for gifts, and for what to do with leftovers, apart from crocheting small squares and so on. Often you buy more wool than you need, or end up using, and can have a complete ball left, so getting ideas for using them more productively, seemed a good idea. I am looking forward to spending some time over the coming Bank Holiday weekend, looking through these, plus THE SKY AT NIGHT magazine, if I ever find one around here!

As for reading matter... I am a great Anne Tyler fan, and am slowly getting all her books, only about four or five to go now. This is her latest, NOAH'S COMPASS, about Noah, aged 60, made redundant from his job, forced to leave his apartment for a smaller one, and coming to terms with who he is, and what his future holds. It seems a little bleak to begin with, especially as the first night in his new apartment he is attacked by an intruder and wakes up in hospital, having no memory as to how he got there. And Catherine Dunne I first read a few years ago, loved her writing and am looking forward to this, a couple of years old now, about four women who get together to celebrate their friendship, twenty five years of it, the negatives and the positives.

Books about women's friendships attract my attention, both fiction and factual, and I wonder why there aren't as many about male friendships... or is it that because I don't read male fiction I don't know about them? Which leads me to consider the differences between friendships that men make, and those between women. Do you think there are any differences? Do women forge stronger friendships than men, and if so why? Is it because we are more open with our feelings, that we find it easier to let out our innermost fears and hopes, trusting that another woman will understand, not judge or criticise? Someone remarked recently, on a women's magazine website that I belonged to, that I was strange because I didn't spend time with women friends, that all my women friends were 'accessed' if you like, via the email, letters, maybe the telephone on the odd occasion (I hate the telephone!). It's not because I live in a remote area geographically, but because in some ways, I am a remote person, detached from the hurly burly of everyday life, or that kind of 'normal' everyday life that most of you have. I don't belong to any organisations, am not a joiner in, and as many of you know, the very idea of mixing with a group of women makes my toes curl. I don't need the company of others, so why should I seek it out?

Anyway, even if you think I am strange, I hope you will enjoy my ramblings and rants and ravings, my weekly mix of books and crafts, this and that, and thank you for popping in again. Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend, however you spend it.