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Sunday, 1 February 2026

1^st February 2026

Dear All,

After swimming “Just Vegetating” this week was “Brassicas” and Kate produced: Madhur Jaffrey’s stir fried cabbage and carrot, Swede with honey & herbs and Cauliflower with poppy seeds and coconut cream.

I had another doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and got ticked off for dropping most of my pills but was allowed to continue with the experiment – so far without much improvement.

The cricket club mowers were collected for winter maintenance this week, somewhat later than usual as the engineer forgot.

I have arranged meetings and agendas for both the church Events committee and the Moldova Matters committee this week. I walked round Over Fen on Wednesday and Thursday this week but would have struggled to go much further. Kate joined the U3A walk at Potton on Thursday and for the first time everyone awarded the walk a 1 (=excellent).

Ouse Fen Bank, Over Fen

Pygmy Goat eating Christmas Tree

Iconic Tree

Stabiliser Bulls

This week I have managed to finish collecting gifts and seed for Moldova and packed four boxes ready for dispatch. Mary & Graham are bringing a final contribution next Tuesday. David and Ian are also coming.

Packing

Packed

Our “Biographies” class did not get off to a good start Friday morning as no warden appeared to unlock the Friends Meeting House so 20 or so elderly folks were left shivering on a damp pavement. Eventually somebody did arrive for other business and let us in – but no official warden arrived.

The subject this week was Eleanor Roosevelt. She was the longest-serving first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms as president from 1933 to 1945. Through her travels, public engagement, and advocacy, she largely redefined the role. Widowed in 1945, she served as a United States delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952, and took a leading role in designing the text and gaining international support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1948, she was given a standing ovation by the assembly upon their adoption of the declaration. President Harry S. Truman called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.