"Thunder and Lightening" ... Cornish cream

Dear Mr Postman .. a positive tale of fun filled days ...

Going to Cornwall for our holidays was a real treat .. a long journey from Surrey, now the outskirts of London - in those days in the country. We always went - Granny lived there! In fact Great Granny on my father's side lived there & died when she was 100 in 1953. West Penwith encompassed Lands End, Penzance & St Michael's Mount and St Ives Bay - perhaps you've heard of some of the names?

I looked forward to tea .. scones & cream ... we, as children, loved the thick, crusty cream topping with the thick yellow cream underneath .. taken in great dollops onto half scones (we'd get double then!) and as children topped off with a good spoon of golden syrup - which oozed its way off the scone towards the plate .. we needed to whisk it up to our mouths and suck the rich cream and lightening: sticky sugary treacle (as we called it) into our mouths as fast as possible - so none was wasted! Delicious .....

I remember many a tea at my uncle's .. whereby I scoffed loads of them .. - we deserved our treats .. we'd been to the beach .. a long walk down & an even longer walk back up from high above St Ives, then games of tennis & rumble tumble with my uncle - into the long summer days before returning to our bed and breakfast base along the road.

"Thunder" used to be made by the small holders everyday .. Cornish Clotted Cream or clouted cream as it was originally known, is in fact scalded cream. In the late 1800s .. no separators were used and the thick yellow cream, sometimes tasted of furze (gorse as it's more commonly known) where the cows had pastured and was delivered, with the milk in large pitchers, brought to the door - into which pint and quart tins were dipped for the household consumption.

It's now available everywhere .. but at one time we had to wait for someone to bring some up for us, or bring some back if we visited .. Cornish cream awaits a tasting from you ... - a picnic on the granite cliffs, overlooking the gentle crash of waves below, the gentle hue and scent of yellow gorse around you, the sun shining down or setting across the ocean .. evocative scenes for a thermos of tea and thunder and lightening to be consumed - gluttony at its best - don't you agree?

Sorry! Mr Postman - did that whet your appetite for lunch .. it's so delicious! ... and a holiday?? when are you going to be able to get away ? - oh .. you don't go .. that's kind - as you're always delivering our positive letters .. thank you so much ...

Wax Flowers ... "Old Celt" and my memory - not my mother's!!

Dear Mr Postman .. oh thank you we'll enjoy your letter & I'll tell you all about it ...

My Ma was full of the joys of spring today .. ie she was with it & interested .. so I read the weather story to her .. and she laughed again .. & then she asked about Bottrell .. well again .. I'd forgotten who it was or what it was!! So she said - well if you've forgotten it .. you'd better read it to me again .. that put me in my place ..!

I'd taken some wax flower sprigs up, together with some irises and yellow & cream narcissi ..that smell so nice. The wax flowers looked liked tea-tree flowers to me .. and to my Ma .. like heather .. spiky leaves with pale creamy flowers .. both right .. but they are from the myrtle family and are endemic to South Western Australia .. I was told (but I'm not sure!!)

Well murder and mayhem .. can be read about in two of my previous posts. William Bottrell 1816 - 1881 spent his early years living on a farm near the Lands End peninsula, listening and absorbing stories from his grandparents, while sitting by the fire in the kitchen. He was well educated and gained a love for the classics and mathematics. He subsequently travelled greatly, as large numbers of Victorians did in those days, and settled in the Basque area of Spain .. this time collecting local Basque folk tales .. & tending his Spanish garden.

His Spanish lands were confiscated and given to the Catholic Church, so he returned to Cornwall before setting out for a teaching post in Quebec, Canada; he returned again to Cornwall before setting out to Australia, where his wife unfortunately died.

He'd collected folk stories and tales on his travels and continued collecting Cornish ones .. these were published, under the psdudonym "Old Celt" and absorbed into others' volumes for posterity .. but he settled as a recluse in a tumble down cottage on the land at Hawke's Point, near Lelant, where the railway line splits the Point in half, leaving a tiny picturesque meadow.

A description of Hawke's Point is given by a Mr Glasson, who lived there after William Bottrell, and who'd emigrated to Australia but returned for a nostalgic visit:

"In the seclusion of hazel bush and wild briar, a rich little three-cornered meadow of beautiful potato and vegetable soil led down to the very edge of the cliff, just where it turned north towards the headland. Here was a well of water, somewhat similar to the Holy Well of St Uny, but far more secluded and silent, being so enshrouded in the shadows of the overhanging ferns and foliage, of hazel and briar bushes, that it was scarcely known and seldom visited. So secluded was this precious little nook overlooking the beach and Bay, that only in the early morning could the sun ever get a peep at it. Here the maidenhair fern developed as in no other place along the cliff." Beautiful description of a miniscule corner of Cornwall, as it was.

Thank you Mr Postman .. my mother loved these positive stories from the past & I know she'll love hearing them again and again .. they make such fun reading ... murder and mayhem .. whatever next? ...

Harsh Bitter Wet Heritage = anagram .. for what?

My mother always loves the stories I find about the weather .. and when we have a bad bout .. we have a good laugh and remember the old days .. I've just found this anagram^ .. I have to say I obviously had one of those blind moments and completely missed it in the article* the first two or three times round .. happy hopeless Hilary! Well, well figured it out yet? ... & I learnt another word .. "snit" .. = informally a state of agitation or irritation - original unknown.

We seem to be having our fair share of poor winter weather .. lots of snow & driving rain with gale force winds .. it's been a miserable winter, but as my mother feels the heat .. I've been grateful .. as we still have the window open & the fan on occasionally! Last year was a cool summer and I do hope we have the same this year .. well for my Ma I do ...

In Britain, what isn't affected by the weather? .. I've had some wonderful days during the time I was in London visiting my mother .. the kind of thing when you're tired, exhausted, emotionally shattered and just plain want to be tucked up at home in bed .. but there's the small challenge of a journey home by train .. in a torrential downpour* .. I did get back by hook or by crook .. I was on the last train through - thank goodness .. the train paddled its way through a flood - steam pouring out from under the carriages and sparks flying out .. I was grateful to be home!

The articles* are quite fun and I'll type them up and post them for you to read in the next few days .. I'm sure you'll enjoy them .. they bring in a bit of history .. - who knows what they'll be writing about us in 200 to 500 years time .. technological rain perhaps?

^ Anagram: Harsh Bitter Wet Heritage = The Great British Weather

Camellias - the tea bush - first flowers of the new year ...

Dear Mr Postman .. isn't it wonderful that Spring is nearly here .. oh if only the snow would go disappear! .. you must be cold delivering these positive letters and stories to us ..

This evergreen shrub produces the first colour of late winter - early spring .. and my mother loves the feel of the thick green leaves and silky flowers - Janice brought some white ones in for my Ma when I was away in January .. and now we have a magnificent photo of a huge pink bush against a friend's Cornish cottage.

The inventor of the modern naming system "Systema Naturae" .. Carolus Linnaeus 1707 - 1778, as he was known in scientific circles - introduced two great contributions to botany. One was the introduction of binomial nomenclature, and the other was his 'happy intuition about the importance of reproductive organs as determining characteristics in plant classification'.

Plants became named at this time via legend, classical mythology, after eminent people - either as a compliment, or as a form of academic recognition among botanists. So camellia was dedicated by Linnaeus to the 17th century Jesuit George Joseph Camellus, a missionary and pharmacist in Manila who studied the flora of the Philippines. Just by the by .. the name dahlia was given to these American plants by the director of Madrid's royal gardens in memory of the 18th century Swedish botanist Dahl.

The most famous member of the Camellias .. is the tea bush .. look what that's done to the social world .. especially us British with our tea drinking ...

Thank you Mr Postman .. that's so interesting .. especially about the plant naming system and tea - your staple drink I think? ..

David and Chad, sow peas good and bad ...

Dear Mr Postman - how wonderful another positive letter .. it's about Saints and other snippets of history .. thank you - we do enjoy your informative letters ...

An old proverb meaning that one should sow peas by the saints' days on the first and second day of March regardless of the weather conditions. St David's day is 1st March, while St Chad is the 2nd March.

Interestingly - a friend's son is called Chad, and his grandparents come from Lincolnshire .. & I think his birthday is today .. another child called after their Saint's Day .. are you? I also didn't know there was a Saint Chad .. another snippet of information that my mother will be interested in ...

Chad was born early in the 600s, in the north of England, soon after St David died, becoming the first bishop of Mercia in Lichfield. During the last three years of his life he founded a monastery in Lincolnshire and continued to be true to his reputation of piety and humility.

Do you remember the 1940s UK cartoon 'Chad' .. also known as 'Kilroy' ... a small, round head with a long nose poking over the top of a wall, with a complaint about shortages ... eg "Wot no sausages?" ... I remember doodling chads many years ago .. one thing I could vaguely draw .. did you have the same problems I had with drawing .. even doodling wasn't really an option?!

Thank you Mr Postman .. my mother remembers the Chad cartoon during the war .. and laughed when I showed her the picture .. - thank you again for your positive letter ...

St David's Day - Dewi Sant - Patron Saint of Wales .. c500 - 589

Dear Mr Postman .. thank you for your concern about my mother .. we've had an interesting time reminding ourselves about the first day of March ... here's our positive story ..

My Ma was comfortable today and wasn't so worried about her drink .. I made sure she had some gel to alleviate her throat .. and told her it was St David's Day, 1st March .. and reminded her that the Welsh emblem is the leek .. Mum immediately responded - the Daffodil, known as the Lent Lily .. something I didn't know! Both are depicted today as the Welsh emblem.

Going back to the Leek .. I was saying that St David during a skirmish ordered his men to wear a leek in their caps to distinguish them from their Saxon (English) foes! .. & that the green would have stood out .. my Ma saying that leeks are mostly white!! No fooling her then ...

"To eat the leek" .. apparently means to eat your own words or retract what you have said .. something else I didn't know: it comes from Shakespeare's Henry V, V, i.

St David certainly was highly respected, as he was a native of Wales & lived there throughout his long life, and because of his reputation as a teacher and preacher founded any number of monastic settlements - so St David's cathedral became a popular place of pilgrimage .. promoting Wales as an early "tourist" centre .. bringing wealth and knowledge into the Country establishing a wealthy middle class by the 1800s - 1900s.

St David's last words to his followers has today become a very well-known phrase, and has proved an inspiration to many: "Do the little things in life .... and the larger things will follow". Do you do the little things in life ..?

It's interesting this discipline of history and learning about your snippets Hilary .. thank you - see you tomorrow ...

Murder, "Tithing", punishment ....

Dear Mr Postman .. now this looks interesting a bit of local Cornish history .. my mother will be interested in this positive story ..

A murder occurred ... the murderer seeking sanctuary in St Euny Church, Lelant - since sanctuary from the law was then given. It was recorded in 1284 at the Assize in Launceston, capital of Cornwall, some 60 miles away.

Although the judges met at Easter time in 1284, the murder may have taken place years before - the previous Assize had been in 1269!! The judges looked at what had happened and how the authorities at the time had dealt with it.

Crime and punishment was the ultimate responsibility of the community elders, under the unit of authority and administration known as a "tithing" - before the establishment of our English parishes. These were harsh and brutal times - William the Conqueror had advocated that "No-one shall be hanged or killed for any crime, but put out his eyes or castrate him". My Ma laughing on this .. when I said 'I'd rather be hanged '.. said: well you can't be castrated!! They can do worse!!

A record of these proceedings was produced for the Assize judges when they came to Launceston in 1284. They were to judge and review how the coroner and jury had dealt with it .. they weren't so much about ensuring that justice was done, but more about fining anyone and everybody for failing to follow the rules exactly - thus filling the king's coffers!! After due consideration & subsequent fining - the king did very well out of Richard's murder!!

The full story can be read here .. Lelant to St Ives by Sandra Pritchard.

Oh Mr Postman - we are so pleased we live today and not 750 years ago!! .. we had a bit of a chuckle about the story ... 'til tomorrow then ..