Words to the Wise has lots of exciting, interesting and fun books to offer fathers and grandfathers for Father’s Day on 19 June.

Obviously there is The Dangerous Book for Grandads – the ideal gift for Grandads of course, but Dads will also find much to enjoy in this nostalgic romp through childhood. The reviews show that the book stimulates so many memories of things Grandads got up to as children and of the ‘dangerous’ activities that children took part in with Grandad! In line with our overarching theme of wellbeing, stimulating such memories helps to keep the brain healthy and recreating childhood activities with the grandchildren will help with physical fitness too. Having fun outside is crucial to feeling well and happy and that’s a great gift to give Dad and Grandad on Father’s Day. This book is available to buy from all good bookshops and online retailers. You can also buy it from the Words to the Wise bookstore for the bargain price of £15.30 with free P&P – order today to ensure you get your copy before Father’s Day on the 19th!

If Dad is a keen woodworker and loves to use the tools handed down to him by his father then why not buy him Woodwork Tools & How to Use Them – now available in paperback. We wrote this blog post http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/using-and-maintaining-your-vintage-tools  when we published the ebook edition, The book has proved to be very popular so we are offering you a print edition for the price of £9.00 with free P&P if you buy the book from our Words to the Wise bookstore.

​Talking of nostalgia and fun, if you want to give Dad and Grandad a giggle then give him an Amazon gift card and recommend the following titles by W. Heath Robinson:

How to be a Motorist – for the petrol-head Dads and Grandads – see our blog post on this title here;
How to Make a Garden Grow – for the hoary old sons of the soil – more on this book here and we are offering a high-quality print of one of the illustrations from the book in our Prints store here;
Humours of Golf – for Dads and Grandads who like their greens with holes – some golfing fun here. You could also buy him a high quality print of one of the Heath Robinson illustrations in the book in our Prints store here.

​For enthusiast Dads:
The Boy’s Book of Aeroplanes – for Dads with their heads in the air – more on this here
The Railway Age – for trainspotting Dads – more about vintage trains here

For keen photographer Dads we also have our photography titles that are listed on our Photography website here.
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RHE Media is committed to producing books that help to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years. Show the men in your life that you love them by giving them the gift of wellbeing.

Goodness me – it’s that time of year again! Spring has crept up on us and pounced. We have been freezing cold since Christmas and my garden, on top of a hill, has been in a snit – refusing to pop out a bud or waggle a leaf while Jack Frost is still stalking the avenue. Then, without a ‘by-your-leave’, warm gusts from the Continent have turned us positively tropical and spring has sprung all over. Thomas Carlyle knew what he was talking about when he wrote:

Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length the season of summer does come.

With Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks I am sure the garden designers are heaving a sigh of relief and unplugging their hair-dryers as there is no longer any need to persuade their blooms to blossom. I am looking forward to seeing what extravagant and expensive creations the designers come up with this year. 

As it happens, it seems that Chelsea is very much in tune with RHE Media this year. The RHS has designed a garden called ‘Heath, Happiness and Horticulture’ https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2016/Articles/health-happiness-and-healing-gardens and, much to our delight, Diarmuid Gavin has designed ‘The British Eccentrics’ Garden’ that celebrates, among others, Heath Robinson - https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/exhibitors/2016/gardens/the-harrods-eccentric-british-garden I must say that I am very pleased that our small efforts, here at RHE Media, to spread the word about wellbeing have reached the ears of the gardening movers and shakers. Gardening is indeed a great way to add years to your life and life to your years.

Also, spookily (as Dame Edna Everage is fond of saying) the William Heath Robinson Trust posted the following on Facebook yesterday. https://www.facebook.com/HeathRobinsonMuseum/photos/pcb.520361224821457/520361111488135/?type=3 The Hare and Hounds in Waytown is my family’s local pub, well known to me as the place to go for a pint of cider after hay-making. So it appears that the universe is telling me to write a blog post about our Heath Robinson books and, specifically, about How to Make a Garden Grow.

William Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne offer some useful advice on garden design and choice of plants in this helpful volume:

Re flowers, now. Before planting so much as a solitary buttercup – which would look dashed silly, anyway – the gardener should give some thought to the general colour-scheme that will result when everything (to his astonishment) has come up. A garden containing only red flowers, for example, is an affront to the eye and a menace to the peace of the home, the irritant effect of red upon the nerve-centres being well known to psychologists, bulls and the retired military. In the same way, an all-white garden tends to induce snow-blindness in the family and neighbours, while an all-yellow one just looks bilious.

The gardener, then, must either work out a preliminary colour-scheme himself or hire a local artist for a small sum in bronze. As a foundation, a few roses, tulips and/or dahlias are generally useful, as these can be had in several pleasing shades and always look well in vases. Among roses, my personal favourites are Mrs. Wapshott (light crimson: very sweet), Lady Bilch-Overspoon (glossy rose: most abundant and continuous bloomer), Prunella Simpson (pink: large), Fifi Mechante (creamy pink: very free and beautiful), General Quacklingham (rich velvety crimson: very strong), and O. J. W. Featheringstonehamptonhaugh (salmon pink: large white eye). Apart from the two last, a jollier bunch of girls one could not hope to meet.

His roses selected, and his tulips and dahlias added to taste, the gardener can turn his attention to his hardy annuals – those tough little growths which can be trusted to do their stuff with the minimum of supervision. The most popular of these, at the moment, are phlox, sox, clarkia elegans (named, I believe, after that Mr. Clark who introduced spats into England), larkspur, love-in-a-mist, fun-in-a-belfry, coreopsis, ellipsis, mignonette, candytuft, bishop’s-nightshirt, nasturtium and echsol … eschscol… (Just a moment, please)… eschscholtzia. The last-named, which is pronounced like a walrus sneezing through a double thickness of felt after a heavy meal on a murky evening in Kirkcudbright, is generally spelt “Cal-i-for-ni-an pop-py”, to the relief of all.

I am sure the Chelsea designers will find such advice most useful and I am going to search the plant catalogues for fun-in-a-belfry and bishop’s nightshirt!
For those without outside space, don’t forget that you can learn much about spring planting indoors from another of our other gardening titles – Room and Window Gardening.

As ever, after an energetic morning digging weeds out of the lawn with a screwdriver (a handy tip from Grandad - I use the screwdriver he gave me) and ducking dive-bombing seagulls while rescuing a drooping passion flower, my mind turns to lunch. It turns out that it is British Sandwich Week this week, which reminded me of my blog posts http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/my-life-in-sandwiches-part-1 and http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/my-life-in-sandwiches-part-2  Having little in the fridge I looked in the freezer and spotted a box of fish fingers, no doubt bought in anticipation of a visit from my nieces or nephew. Now the fish finger sandwich is much celebrated and there is considerable debate about the correct ingredients. I like to spread the bread (usually brown, but I know white is more popular) with mayonnaise, add the hot fish fingers and top with some tomato ketchup. I have also tried tartare sauce instead of mayo and that is very good too. For more thoughts on how to eat a fish-finger sandwich see - http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/15/how-to-eat-fish-finger-sandwiches

I was admiring my pear blossom this morning and I wondered what Mrs Beeton recommended for preserving pears in Mrs Beeton’s Jam-making and Preserves. Here is her recipe for Pears, Sweet, Pickled:

Select some nice firm pears. To each lb. allow ½ a lb. of brown sugar, and ¼ of a pint of malt vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.
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Peel the pears and tie the spices in muslin. Place the vinegar, sugar and spices in a preserving-pan; when boiling add the pears, and cook them gently until tender. Remove the pears to a bowl or large basin, boil the syrup for about 10 minutes longer, then pour it over the fruit. On the following day boil up the syrup, and repeat the process the two following days. On the third day place the pears in jars or wide-necked bottles, and remove the spices before adding the vinegar to the fruit. Store in a dry, cool place.

My mother makes pickled pears (I think her recipe is similar to Mrs B’s) – great with ham and other cold meats and my Dad’s favourite. The lovely painting on the cover of our edition of this book shows pears and the equipment needed for preserving them.

Finally, looking ahead, don’t forget that it is Father’s Day on the 19th June. The Dangerous Book for Grandads is the ideal gift for Dads and Grandads. It includes lots of ideas for outdoor activities with the grandchildren during the holidays so get your copy now (it’s available in all good bookshops as well as online in The Great British Bookshop and Amazon) and start filling your notebook or scrapbook with plans for derring-do! For example, now the soil is warming up and (we fervently hope) the risk of frost is past, you can plant the seeds of your giant sunflower or enormous pumpkin!

Of course, if your Dad and/or Grandad appreciates the outdoors more in theory than in practice then he has much in common with William Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne in How to Make a Garden Grow. I think they should have the last word:

The fact that neither Mr. Heath (“Towser”) Robinson nor myself has ever grown any of the flowers or vegetables mentioned in this work will not, we hope, detract from its educational value or its usefulness as a fly-swatter. After all, very few dramatic critics – a curious breed of men, remarkable chiefly for their ability to sleep through the loudest shows – have ever written plays; and, of those who have, the majority are now wishing that they had chosen something easier, such as making little woollen models of the Albert Hall. The looker-on, in other words, sees most of the game; and as onlookers (preferably from arm-chairs, with a large jug of something soothing within easy reach) Mr. Heath Robinson and I acknowledge few superiors below the rank of K.B.E.

Do you remember The Great Egg Race TV programmes from the 1980s, presented by the wonderfully eccentric Heinz Wolff? Several episodes can be viewed in the BBC archive here http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/  Many of the contestants will now be grandads and I am sure they will be enthusiastically passing on their ingenious and devious problem-solving and engineering skills to their grandchildren.

Programmes like this demonstrate that problem-solving and building solutions together can be great fun as well as an opportunity to learn a great deal from each other. The Dangerous Book for Grandads has several great suggestions for such activities, and now the weather is finally warming up a bit Grandad and the grandkids can venture into the shed to try some dangerous experiments, build a Heath Robinson contraption or, perhaps, to create a record-breaking egg-carrying machine.
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In the USA egg drop projects are a popular and fun way to teach scientific principles to young children – see, for example, http://eggdropproject.org/ A recent episode of Modern Family featured an egg-drop competition between Manny and Luke, demonstrating what a smashing time can be had by all the family when problem-solving together!

Of course, as The Dangerous Book for Grandads points out, Easter is the best time of year for egg-related activities. There is a section on Easter traditions that Grandad may like to partake in with his grandchildren. For example, painting eggs, egg rolling and pace-egging. What is dangerous about this you may ask? Well before you paint an egg you need to blow an egg – and this comes with the risk of getting egg on your face (and everything else) if you don’t do it correctly. Luckily our friends at the fantastically useful Instructables website (ideal for the creative Grandad) provide a guide to blowing eggs successfully: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Blow-Egg-Out-of-Egg-Shells/?ALLSTEPS

Pace-egging, a tradition from the north-east of the UK, has the potential to descend into violence as rival teams try to steal pace eggs from each other, although actual violence is rare and is played out in the pace play or dance instead. For more about pace-egging read The Dangerous Book for Grandads.

When I was a child we used to roll painted eggs down the steep hill on which the village church stood. We would blow eggs, paint them and then roll them down the hill to see which would travel the furthest without breaking the shell, with a ‘valuable prize’ for the winner. Dangerous for the eggs, particularly when the dogs joined in and chased the eggs down the hill, and grandads and grandchildren may take a tumble if they run after the rolling eggs. There was also a competition for the best painted egg (which took place before the egg-rolling for obvious reasons!).
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Easter egg rolling takes place all over the world and is a centuries-old tradition. There is an annual egg roll at the White House, presided over by the US president:

​Egg rolling is also popular in Russia and the Slavic nations – they use a chute rather than a hill to roll the eggs, probably because it is still too cold to venture far from home at Easter in those countries.

​So, what do you do with all the egg you have blown out of the egg shells? Why you make lemon curd of course! Our book, Jam-making and Preserves by Mrs Beeton, includes a simple recipe, as follows:

LEMON CURD
Take 4 eggs, 1 lb. of castor sugar, 4 oz. of butter and the rind and juice of 4 lemons.
Break the eggs separately into a basin, beat slightly, add the other ingredients and stir over a gentle heat in a pan of hot water for about 20 minutes, or until thick. Pour into dry jars, cover down securely, and store in a cold, dry place.

Lemon curd is a wonderful addition to whipped cream used in a spring Pavlova or roulade. It can be used as a filling for lemon sponge cakes and it is super on toast for breakfast.

If Grandma has plans for all her real eggs for her Easter baking then you could make papier-mâché eggs instead. This is very easy – you use a balloon as the base, blown up to the size of ‘egg’ you are after. Then you soak strips of paper in flour and water paste (or some other glue) and lay the soaked paper strips on to the balloon in several layers. Try to create as smooth a surface as you can as this will make painting the finished eggs easier. Dry the papier-mâché eggs thoroughly. When they are dry you can pop the balloon using a pin by the knot (leave the deflated balloon inside the egg or make a small hole in the top of the egg so that you can gently remove the balloon). Once the eggs are completely dry the grandchildren can paint them to create Easter decorations. Varnish the painted eggs and they will last for many years. Please note that using papier-mâché eggs for egg rolling is definitely cheating!

Eggs represent new life and the resurrection in the Christian tradition but eggs also symbolise fertility and the rebirth of spring in many ancient pre-Christian traditions too. Now spring has sprung and the grass is rizz thoughts often turn to love. That old romantic William Heath Robinson took the opportunity to portray Easter eggs as a useful way to woo a potential partner. This is a technique that he did not include in How to be a Perfect Husband surprisingly so this is one for hopeful swains to add to their springtime wooing toolkit:

Finally, we are extremely grateful to Kerry Norris for the fantastic review of The Dangerous Book for Grandads that she sent me this morning. We are so glad that you and your family grandads enjoyed the book. 
http://www.allaboutamininorris.com/2016/03/the-dangerous-book-for-grandads-review.html?m=1 

​For more reviews of The Dangerous Book for Grandads visit the web page for the book at http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/the-dangerous-book-for-grandads.html
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Have a very Happy Eggy Easter!

It is Valentine’s Day on Sunday. What, I hear you cry, already?! Yes, already, so this is good opportunity to remind you of our fantastic gifts for the man in your life. Firstly, I direct you to last year’s blog post about Valentine’s Day - http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/bog/valentines-day-advice-from-heath-robinson Of course, How to be a Perfect Husband is a gift that should be given just before Valentine’s Day to ensure the wise words of William Heath-Robinson and K.R.G. Browne hit the mark before the great day arrives. But, you might point out (and you would have a valid point), you can’t gift ebooks bought on Amazon in the UK (although you can if you are in the USA). This is true, so I propose that you recommend this book as a purchase to the love of your life a) as a reminder that Valentine’s Day is upon him and b) as a source of invaluable advice to him to ensure a happy and harmonious celebration on Sunday.

Alternatively, if your chap is a granddad and all you can think of to buy him is a pair of comedy socks or a tie with love hearts on it, may I recommend The Dangerous Book for Granddads to you? This energetic book will keep your Granddad and Grandchildren occupied for hours, outside in the fresh air, with all sorts of projects and pursuits ranging from the mildly hazardous to the downright dangerous. It will do him good and also gives Grandma some very welcome time off, although, of course, Grandma might want to get involved too!

​You don’t have to take my word for it. The book has received some wonderful reviews from those who have already read the book. Here are links to some of them:
http://www.parenttalk.org.uk/2016/01/the-dangerous-book-for-granddads/
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http://www.thisdayilove.co.uk/2015/12/the-dangerous-book-for-granddads.html
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http://madhousefamilyreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/book-review-dangerous-book-for-granddads.html
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dangerous-Book-Granddads-Jeremy-Hobson/dp/1910226416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452080354&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dangerous+book+for+granddads​

http://www.daysinbed.com/dangerous-book-grandads-review
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The Dangerous Book for Granddads is also a nostalgic treat as it includes many illustrations and photos to remind Granddad of his own childhood and the things he used to get up to as a boy. I had great fun doing the picture research to hunt down images like these (the boys on their go carts is my favourite – they are having such a great time!):

The Dangerous Book for Granddads really is the perfect Valentine’s gift for that special granddad in your life.

 ‘Granddads are there to help the grandchildren get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet!’ Gene Perret
 
RHE Media is proud to announce the publication of The Dangerous Book for Granddads by J.C. Jeremy Hobson. Now available to buy as a paperback from Amazon - an ideal Christmas present for the granddads in your life!
 
Jeremy Hobson offers granddads 86 ideas for getting into mischief with the grandchildren based on:

• pastimes that they had when they were a child;
• skills that granddads and the grandchildren can learn together;
• activities where the grandchildren can teach granddad a thing or two!

 
Becoming a granddad doesn’t automatically mean you will gain all the expertise necessary to enjoy adventures with your grandchildren overnight. For most, it’s a case of identifying the basic techniques and subsequently learning together. The main thing is - ‘just do it’. Hopefully, The Dangerous Book for Granddads will provide inspiration, stimulation – and may possibly also cause perspiration!
 
This fully illustrated scrapbook includes many images to remind you of childhood escapades and exploits. Full of practical advice (and a few danger warnings), this guide for granddads will have you leaping from your armchair to plan some daring deeds!
 
Sadly, there is much in the current media about how today’s children prefer to play computer games rather than participate in the kind of activities so enjoyed by their parents and grandparents. Without the encouragement to climb trees, kick through autumn leaves, collect bugs and paddle about in ditches and streams, the psychologists worry that future generations will succumb to ‘epidemic obesity, attention-deficit disorder, isolation and childhood depression.’

Parents busy with work often rely on active retired grandparents to help with child care at the end of the school day, weekends and during school holidays. Also, not only are people living longer, they are thinking ‘younger’ and the modern attitude of mind is that all things are possible. I’m sure that, as I enter my sixth decade, I don’t think or act like grandparents would have done two or three generations ago… today’s maxim must surely be ‘You’re never too old’! Therefore, grandparents are often ideally placed to encourage youngsters to get active - and what is good for children is also good for granddad!
 
RHE Media’s mission statement is ‘Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years’ – this mission is at the heart of all we publish, although we realise this goal in different ways. The Dangerous Book for Granddads exemplifies our mission and the book is also closely connected with the Five Ways to Wellbeing as described by the New Economics Foundation (for more information see our blog post of 15 January this year - http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/how-to-boost-wellbeing-through-hobbies-and-activities  These five ways:

• Connect;
• Be Active;
• Take Notice;
• Learn, and
• Give …

can all be found in the 86 activities in The Dangerous Book for Granddads – not overtly (this certainly isn’t a boring old textbook!) but through having fun with grandchildren. The book actively encourages granddads to have a second childhood by revisiting the fun they had in their youth, passing on skills that they learned as boys and engaging with the things that today’s children enjoy.
 
As Jeremy says in his Preface to the book:
It can be a long time before one realises where the true lessons of life are learnt. DNA and genetics are all well and good, but despite having all that flowing through your veins, you still need an enthusiastic teacher and, regardless of his aura to others, Granddad was mine. Without him I doubt that I would be anything like the person I am today and would most certainly not have much of the knowledge I’m fortunate enough to possess.