27th February 2022

 

Dear All,

It was our turn to lead the Thursday walk this week but we had not been able to carry out a recce until the day before. We started at Therfield above Royston and headed south to Sandon and Kelshall. It was a new route for us and as it had rained every day the previous week the going was a bit soggy underfoot especially on cultivated fields, of which there were five, so we spent a lot of the recce plotting alternative routes to avoid the worst fields. This together with a few missed paths meant we did a good 10 miles on Wednesday and were not that keen to do it all again on Thursday especially as were woke to a downpour. However, when the going gets tough, the tough get going – unless you can think of a good excuse – and we couldn’t! In the event although we started in rain it soon cleared up and the sun even made an appearance and Thursday’s walk was easier because of the rerouting and was in the end quite enjoyable. On Wednesday we spotted the Therfield roe deer herd of well over 100 individuals including several white ones. 18 miles in two days was quite enough for old codgers like us!

 

 

Damp Start

 

Icknield Way

 

 

Green End

 

 

Snowdrop Patch

 

 

Storm Damage

 

It was “Legumes” in “Just Vegetating” this week and Kate’s recipes were: Mixed Bean Masala, Quick fried Runner Beans and Crispy Chick Pea Chaat. – all available on application with a stamped addressed envelope!

My old NIAB boss Bill Chowings came to the ex NIAB employees lunch at Girton Golf Course on Tuesday. He now lives at Saham Toney in Norfolk but was staying with his son in Swavesey for a week. Bill’s wife died just before last Christmas. After we called on Glynis for a catch up as Bill was also her boss for a time. Glynis is having cancer treatment but being characteristically upbeat about it.

We missed the U3A History session this week due to the recce but have received 16 pages of notes! It was mainly about Aethelred the Unready and the continued Viking raids resulting in Cnut becoming king of England. Aethelred was king for 38 years starting when he was 10 years old but did not emerge with a good reputation being described as weak, cowardly and ineffective – and that was just by his friends!

“Biographies” subject this week was “John von Neumann” a Hungarian born mathematician presented by Keith our computer boffin and as usual his topic went slightly over most people’s heads. Evidently von Neumann made major contributions to many fields, including mathematics (foundations of mathematics, functional analysis, ergodic theory, group theory, representation theory, operator algebras, geometry, topology, and numerical analysis), physics (quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics, and quantum statistical mechanics), economics (game theory), computing (Von Neumann architecture, linear programming, self-replicating machines, stochastic computing), and statistics. He was a pioneer of the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics in the development of functional analysis, and a key figure in the development of game theory and the concepts of cellular automata, the universal constructor and the digital computer. So now you know!. In Dr Bronowski’s book “The Ascent of Man” he devotes the last three pages to von Neumann describing him as “The cleverest man I ever knew, without exception.”

 

 

John von Neumann

 

Laura and Adrian both called on Friday afternoon, Kate entertained one the front room and I the other in the back!

Wood chopping Saturday morning followed by Hemingford 0 v 1 Over.

Gordon’s mother died suddenly on Friday following a fall, within half an hour we also heard that one of our walking group had passed on and then we heard that Ken Gage, a village man that our children will know, also died yesterday.

The Cambridge News photo feature this week was “Cities” and my contribution was “Budapest”.

 

 

Budapest

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

20th February 2022

 

Dear All,

Highlight this week has been entertaining Mary-Ann, Amḗlie & Albert from Tuesday evening until Saturday morning. Before that we managed a swim on Monday before “Just Vegetating” which this week covered “Salads – Fruit”. Kate’s recipes were:  Roast stuffed Peppers, Mutabbal (blended Aubergines) and Courgette, Pistachio & lemon syrup cake (vague salad connection!).

There was no “Cognitive Psychology” this week as the tutor had a half term break. M-A arrived about 6.15pm and the children had each packed about 20 soft toys! We introduced the to “Muggins” that night.

 

 

On Wednesday and Thursday Mary-Ann was working from home (or near enough!) so we took the children to Emmaus to purchase bargains including a small concrete owl which Albert thought his mother would love. On the way back we stopped at Willingham playground and had lunch at “The Looking Glass” at Willingham. In the afternoon we toured the River at Overcote and the RSPB at Fen Drayton. We entertained Ian and Chantal Bradley for dinner as Ian (a walking group friend) was speaker at Over garden club – topic “The Answer lies in the Soil”. I was providing the projector for the talk which was not without drama as we discovered that his laptop would not speak to my projector which necessitated a quick trip to my office to transfer the talk to my laptop. Fortunately, the AGM was due to follow the talk so the order was switched.

On Thursday Kate and I took the children to Hamerton Wildlife Park near Sawtry. An enterprising farmer set it up in 1990 and it has about 100 different animals, some large but mostly small. The children were especially taken with a white Tiger and a room full of harvest mice. Another highlight was a walk through shed of Australian birds, mainly Budgerigars and Zebra Finches.

The weather was cold and blowy but otherwise it was a good outing and we had a picnic lunch in Sawtry on the way back.

 

 

White Tiger

 

 

Harvest Mice

 

 

Zebra Finches

 

 

Meercat

Later in the afternoon Amḗlie and Albert were allowed to exercise Glynis & Richard’s dog Mossy, which was probably the top moment of the week for Amḗlie at least!

 

 

Mossy walkers

 

Mary-Ann had intended to return home on Friday but the weather warnings were dire and the Dartford bridge was closed all day so we had a bonus day. Both children were keen to work for money so Amelie cleaned all my old plant labels and Albert helped make a cake, tidied toys and shelled my vast crop of chick peas. U3A “Biographies” was transferred to Zoom to save travelling in inclement weather. This week it was “Rubens part 2” describing his experiences as a diplomat, spending time in Spain and England trying to broker peace between Catholic and Protestant factions.

Mary-Ann left at 10,00 am Saturday and was home by 12.30 pm – so far, we have not found anything that they have left behind!

 

 

Luggage

 

Local football was devastated by hurricane Eunice with both Over games called off.

Kate and I had a walk round the Fen in the afternoon and the village has had it’s share of fallen trees and 5 days with rain has had familiar effects on the Fen.

 

 

Fallen Tree

 

 

Flooded Fen Field

 

 

Pastor David Smith is in South Africa for his mother’s funeral and the morning service was delegated to Norman Foster with some help. Unfortunately, he has been in close contact with someone who has gone down with Covid so has pulled out at short notice so this has meant some last-minute rearrangements with various “volunteers” called on to participate. Anything could happen!

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

13th February 2022

 

Dear All,

This week has been much like last week with U3A activities most days but with gradually the chance to do more outside.

Mondays are a tight turn round with swimming and “Just Vegetating” so we tried a new transport method this week. Mervyn picked us up from Swavesey Guided Bus car park and after swimming took us to Bridge Street, then after JV we caught the Guided Bus back to Swavesey. This worked much better.

“Just Vegetating” this week was “Salads – Roots, Shoots and Leaves”, Kate’s recipes were: Spinach and Chinese cabbage salad, Carrot, cucumber, radish, tomato, gem lettuce, mint and basil salad with a range of toppings and dressings: candied nuts, flower petals, roasted seeds, fruit, mango dressing and peanut butter dressing.

“Cognitive Psychology this week was on “Concepts” – the processes we go through to classify and interpret what we see. I am not sure that I would make a good Cognitive Psychologist!

“History” is getting more interesting this week in the 900s with Edred, Eadwig, Edgar and Edward the Martyr with Erik Bloodaxe making an appearance.

We had a new location for Thursday’s walk starting at Little Paxton and walking round Paxton Pits, these are restored gravel pits now a nature reserve and supposedly one of the best locations for nightingales.

 

 

Paxton Pits

 

 

 

River Ouse

 

 

Ouse Valley Way Board

 

 

Offord church

 

 

Muddy stretch

 

“Biographies” this week featured the painter “Rubens” delivered by the daughter of a Nobel prize winner Vivian Perutz – the sort of person you find loitering around Cambridge!

 

 

Rubens Self Portrait

 

On the garden front I have replaced one compost bin, renovated another and sown broad beans, peas and more tomatoes in the greenhouse and weeded Alliums outdoors.

 

 

Compost Bins

I watched West Wratting 2 v 3 Shelford in a bruising encounter and my colleague Dave was lectured by the referee for interfering with play!

With love

Mike & Kate

 

6th February 2022

 

Dear All,

We took part in the “Big Garden Birdwatch” last Sunday recording the birds in the garden for an hour. It started well in sunshine but unfortunately it brought out the children on their trampoline at No.17 and No.21 started cutting their grass which reduced the bird traffic. Nevertheless, we counted 11 different types of birds but not many of each: Pigeons 4, Blackbirds 4, Crows 2, Great Tit 2, Blue Tits 2, Starling 1, Sparrow 1, Robin 1, Wren 1, Thrush 1, Magpie 1.

On the bird front it seems likely that which was labelled Merlin last week was more likely a Buzzard.

We managed to fit in a swim before “Just Vegetating” on Monday. The pool was a toasty 19.5°C and we used “Park & Ride” rather than the guided bus which worked better.

“Just Vegetating” was “Brassicas” this week: Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflowers and Broccoli. Kate’s recipes were: Kale crisps, Cauliflower curry, Cabbage stir fry and Red cabbage, pomegranate and pumpkin seed salad. We called in at Coton Garden Centre for lunch on the way home.

“Cognitive Psychology” covered “Attention and the Great Illusion” – how we notice or ignore various things with the illustration a man in a gorilla suit appearing during a basketball match and nobody noticing as they have been told to count the number of passes made by one team.

Meanwhile “History” was back in the 900s with Aethelstan and Edmund both grandchildren of Alfred who were both competent but bloodthirsty rulers who kept the country more or less united.

Walking on Thursday started at Great Chesterford and headed towards Linton and Hadstock. As it had not seriously rained for 2.5 weeks it was firm underfoot and we saw two small groups of Roe Deer. For the second time in three weeks the pub landlord had succumbed to Covid but as he did not live on the premises the staff put on sandwiches and chips but less than half of the walkers stayed and since one of the walk leaders has tested positive. Kate and I both tested negative yesterday.

 

Great Chesterford

 

 

At the Crossroads!

 

 

Roe Deer

 

It was my turn to present at “Biographies” bumped up the order as again Covid had intervened and taken out the planned presenter. I had chosen “John Steinbeck” as “The Grapes of Wrath” had a profound impression on me at school and I subsequently read most of his novels. All told he wrote 33 books including 16 novels, 12 non-fiction, 3 novellas, 2 books of short stories and 2 film scores. 13 of his books were made into films and he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962.

 

 

John Steinbeck

 

I have sown Broad beans, cabbage and cauliflowers in the greenhouse this week and we are still harvesting sprouts, parsnips, celeriac and leeks.

Our pastor David Smith is planning to take a trip to South Africa with his family for the first time in 8 years as his mother was ill and his brother is planning to emigrate to New Zealand. Unfortunately, his mother died yesterday.

Kate started her course of Alendronic acid this week with understandable nervousness!

With love

Mike & Kate