Happy Father's Day and The Hovel Chronicles Part Five.......

Hello everyone and a Happy Father’s Day to all dads. Sadly my dad is no longer with us but I send him wishes all the same. Love you dad..........

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Happy Father's Day

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I had a nice surprise today. Christopher, Jane, Korenza and Dylan called to see me so I was able to spend some time with my son on Father’s Day, which made up for not seeing him on his birthday. I just love my grandies to bits. I can’t wait until I can start having them to stay with me. Once Christopher has moved his things to the house they hope to get next month I can get the spare room ready to use as a nursery. Hooray, I get to spend time with them and spoil them as only nanas can. Yes, I’ve have to forfeit my craft room but at no cost, having my grandies to stay more than compensates........

Midsummer Dancers
~ Anders Zorn 1897 ~

Today is also the longest day and shortest night as we have now reached midsummer. Hard to believe that we are already half-way through summer . We have been lucky with the sunshine we have had although it ended a dull evening today. Hopefully we will continue to have nice weather...

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With this weekend being midsummer there will have been many celebrations around the world. Midsummer Eve was traditionally held on June 24th and the celebrations date back to pre-Christian times. In some countries, such as Estonia and Latvia, June 24th is a public holiday. But today most celebrations are held over the 20th and 21st of June.....

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Midsummer, the Summer Solstice, is seen as the time when magical powers are at their peak and the walls between this world and the next became thinner on Midsummer’s Eve. The rituals and traditions are primarily European in origin and vary from region to region but the common link regardless of culture is the use of fire and plant life. Certain plants and herbs took on magical powers of healing, divination, and protection. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again. Couples would dance through the flames to increase fertility, bones burned and their ashes scattered to increase the harvest and torches were carried around the bonfire to dispel illness. In later years, witches were also thought to be on their way to meetings with other evil powers on Midsummer Eve...........

Danish midsummer bonfire with the traditional

burning of a witch

Today the lighting of bonfires is still practiced in certain parts of the world and here in Cornwall bonfires will be lit at appropriate high points in the county. In Sweden in the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth (probably made by the elder women of the family) on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witch burnings from 1540 to 1693........

The only fire I will be lighting tonight will be the one in my lounge if the weather turns chilly.........

Night of the Fairy Goddess

~ Edward Hughes ~

It is also believed that Midsummer is a time when fairies may be seen dancing round fairy rings or in the woods. Who knows if we venture out tonight we may just be lucky enough to encounter some magic....A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a fine example of this. A play by William Shakespeare about Titania queen of the fairies and her consort Oberon. And let’s not forget Puck ........

Titania welcoming her fairy bretheren

Watercolour

~ Henry Meynell Rheam ~

But midsummer was far from my mind at the beginning of May. Still being tired from our journey Monday and the emotional day on Tuesday Andy and I decided to have a relaxing day just pottering around the local town of Eastwood on Wednesday the 6th. I know Eastwood well because as a child I used to live in the mining village of Langley mill just next door. Many a Saturday my mother and I would go shopping in this nice little town. It is also the birthplace of DH Lawrence......

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Having been intrigued over the years with the history of Hannah’s cottage I decided we would go to the local library. Unfortunately it was closed due to it being Wednesday. Eastwood is one of the few places that still has Wednesday half-day closing. Ha well save for another day but as luck would have it the charity shops were open....oh dear I will have to go to them instead...lol...

Police Station, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire


I did take a photograph of the police station at Eastwood due to it's age, it has been there since 1878, still has what looks like a very old glass police sign hanging in front.....

Above the main door

Nottinghamshire Constabulary, 1878

Later the same day me, Andy, Hannah and her husband Dave went for a meal at a village in Leicestershire, Upper Broughton. Now this area is very familiar to me also. Not only did I not live very far from here as a teenager but some of our ancestors used to live around these parts......



Dave, Hannah and Andy after our meal


It was a lovely evening enjoyed by all. Dave has a wicked SOH, similar to Andy, so we had lots of laughs. Outside the sky was very clear with a beautiful moon, the photograph below does not do it justice........

Well that’s another day recorded. Enjoy midsummer and take care. Will be back very soon....lol...