Tarragon Gifts

The origins of St Valentine remain somewhat obscure despite him being responsible for the phenomenal outpouring of over 1 billion cards worldwide to celebrate the iconic 14th February.

However, one possibility may be traced back to Roman times in the reign of Emperor Claudius in 270 AD to one Bishop Valentine.  At this time, Claudius had outlawed the marriage of young men and women.  This was because Claudius believed that married men did not make good soldiers! (I wonder why?).  Not agreeing with this edict, Bishop Valentine continued to marry the young betrothed in the name of love saying it was God’s intention that it should be so.

Well, everyone knows how dischuffed the Roman Emperors could get and true to form, Claudius got ‘dischuffed’.  Bishop Valentine was arrested and thrown into jail to await execution. During his languishment, he fell in love with the jailers daughter. On the day of his execution, he passed her a note which read “From Your Valentine”.

Pope Gelasius 1 established St Valentines Day in 500 AD but it wasn’t until the times of Geoffrey Chaucer when Courtly Love was at it’s height that it took on the mantle as we know it today. During these early days, true romanticism held sway with lovers sending careful, lovingly hand written notes, often accompanied by flowers. Today of course, with mass produced cards and intense advertising, the individuality may have wained somewhat but it is however, a lovely opportunity to express Love and Devotion to those who are romantically most important to us at this time.

Guess what! Tarragon Gifts may be able to assist in that area with a few appropriate gift ideas for him and for her.

Happy Valentines Day!

People sometimes ask why we chose the name Tarragon Gifts as our company name.  A good question!

Although Tarragon is widely known as ‘The King’ of The Herbs, we are not laying claim to any sort of crown at the moment. However, it does give us a good start!

Was it because Tarragon enhances such a diverse variety of dishes?  Perhaps there is a simily with the diversity of gift ideas shown on the Tarragon Gifts site?

Or the esoteric mystic origins of it’s name.  The French called it ‘Estragon’ meaning ‘Little Devil’ while the Greeks called it ‘Artimisia’, meaning ‘Goddess of the Moon’. Obviously it made quite an impression to create such a diverse reaction!

The fact it is uncommon?

It is satisfying in that it has many therapeutic qualities which happen to please and give satisfaction at the right time?

Can’t say as we did really, but it is quite amazing how all the above fit the bill!

Tarragon Herb is an essential ingredient of ‘Bearnaise Sauce’ and ‘fines herbes’ and a welcome addition to many dishes. It features in a number of culinary gift ideas which abound at this time of year.  Christmas gifts are always very taxing.  Gifts for him, gifts for her, gifts for the kids, the list seemingly never ends. You could even try growing it yourself with our ‘Potty Innovation’s’ selection or even in a Huggy Pot!

Hopefully, Tarragon Gifts will provide the Salve to help with and provide ideal gift ideas for you and your family.

We wish you all a Happy and Safe Christmas.

One of the nightmares for parents is having young toddlers fiddling with mixer bath taps at bathtime or in the kitchen sink.  Been there, got the tee shirt and loss of hair to prove it!  However, we now have an item where you can teach your little ones the difference between hot and cold water with a fun faucet which changes colour. This item is also handy for the visually impaired who can still discern colour. It glows red for hot and blue for cold.  The only downside is that you’ll have such a fun time playing with the different colours you’ll end up with a luke warm bath!!

Silver memory stick

My friend Tom wanted to start a new web based retail business which of course is fine.  Then his troubles started when he tried the next step and that was to obtain….advice! He set about obtaining a webmaster which he thought was a great first step and indeed it might have been….except it wasn’t. Delays and problems, costs mounted as he was informed different software would do this and other software would do that and he ought to give thought to the benefits and advantages they would give to his embrionic business.  Then came the real problem!

He started looking at the web based gurus! After parting with a not inconsiderable amount of money for various courses and ebooks (some of which he could have downloaded for free!) and other stuff, his email box now consists of over 700 emails from these various ‘experts’ who all claim their systems are brilliant and contain amazing offers with ‘never seen before’ ‘ground breaking info!’ etc etc.  Don’t forget they nearly all have an option to buy more goods and ‘amazingly miraculous software!’ specially released from ‘Jed Smith’ (who?) who is alluded to as their own ‘Ultimate Guru’  whose shoes they obviously feel they are not fit to clean!!  WOW!

The other problem is that if he spent all the time necessary he would end up being a full time reader of emails with a questionable value to his business. Not much profit in that!  However, he could download them all on to a silver plated memory stick from Tarragongifts and look at them when he retires!

If you’re like me during a typical day in the office, you may find yourself wasting a few minutes every hour.
Those minutes can add up to hours. Those are hours you could be spending accomplishing more work, or spending at home.

Here are ten tips to help you make the most of your time.

1. Get rid of the clutter in your office. If you’re constantly looking for things amid the junk that’s in your way, you’re wasting time. Get rid of anything that is making your office seem disorderly.  (However, a UK University did a research project on this very subject and discovered that untidiness is not indicative of inefficiency.  Hope that makes you feel better!)

2. Make your work space efficient. For example, if you use your file cabinet often, put it close to the desk so that you don’t have to walk across the room every time you need something. Keep the things you use often near so that it’s always at your fingertips.   (It’s also somewhere to put your coffee cup !)

Focus on the task at hand. Multi-tasking is sometimes a necessary part of the workday. However, you may find that you’re flitting from one task to the next unnecessarily. Finish your current project before you go on to the next. (However, this may prove difficult for the male members of the office!)

4. Organize your email. Delete the messages you don’t need. Create folders for the ones you do. Email is a big time waster when it isn’t managed. (Don’t forget the one to the brunette in sales!)

5. Keep paper organized. Instead of having to sift through piles of paper, spend 10 minutes at the end of each day filing away the things you aren’t using. If you do need to keep some things out, put them in a file rack.  (Some of us find ‘File 13′ is an amazingly quick paper organiser!)

6. Delegate tasks. You need to allow your staff to do what they can to free you up for other opportunities. Let your secretary handle phone messages or emails that don’t need your direct attention.  (Particularly relevant on big sporting occassions!)

7. Return phone calls immediately. Don’t wait for messages to pile up on your desk.  (Still, if it’s important, they’ll ring back won’t they?  Do some brown nosing and save the company a fortune on phone calls!)

8. Be clear about employee roles. Make sure that everyone understands what his or her tasks really are. Employees should not be duplicating each other’s services. Create standard operating procedures for each position in your company.  (And think up new excuses for the now non standard foul-ups!)

9. Use agendas for meetings. Agendas should have time limits. Keep meetings short as possible.  (Is that actually possible?)

10. Keep one calendar. Either a written or electronic calendar is a must, but you’ll run into problems when you have too many of them. Don’t waste time entering things into multiple planners – just keep one and keep it current.  (If you do keep only one and you lose it….make sure there’s someone else around you can shift the blame on to!)

You’ll find as you get more organized and delegate tasks that it feels like there are suddenly more hours in the day.  There’s not – it’s simply the positive result of running your business in the most efficient way possible. (Or alternatively, by now Scarlett, you simply ‘don’t give a damn!’).

However, you can cheer things up a bit  for yourself or a colleaque by having a look at the office gifts on the Tarragon Gifts website.  See you there.

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Football Presentation evening

Atomiser

One of the most frequently asked questions we hear concerning evening functions such as Lodge Ladies evenings or club presentation events  is ‘What presents can we get?’  Well, after being consulted by a number of people we have now provided a range of cufflinks for the sporting events and a range of silverware, accessories and jewellery for the ladies. So have a look on the site where we hope some of these ideas will assist in providing some inspirational ideas.  Of course discounts are available for bulk purchases.

mill

As co-founder of Tarragon Gifts I am also part of the  very industrious Swannington Heritage Trust responsible for the restoration and refurbishment of Hough Mill at Swannington, Leicestershire in the UK.  It has been a fascinating and historical project which I hope you might find interesting.  I’ll try and keep updating the post as things develop over time.  Regards,  Norma.

	In April 2000 The Trust opened to the public its Swannington Hough Mill which it had refurbished from a ruinous state with help from the National Heritage Lottery fund. Hough Windmill is now open to the public every Sunday from April until the end of September, between 2pm and 5pm.   Hough Mill in the 1930′s. A tower mill, built by Mr. Griffin at the end of the 18th century, on the boundary between Swannington and Thringstone, replaced an earlier post mill sited nearby, and was being operated in the mid 1800s by James Kerby, as a tenant of the Griffins. He paid a rent of £30 per annum for the mill, piggeries and shed but in 1877 the mill with house and land was put up for auction. It was purchased by John Hough, steward to the Beaumonts of Coleorton, for £1175 and it continued to be worked by James Kerby and then Walter Chester, who was the last man to work the mill commercially. The mill finally ceased operation in the early 20th century and then progressively fell into disrepair. It is said that some of its ironwork was removed in 1940 for the war effort and by the time the Trust purchased the site in 1994 all that remained of the listed building was a very badly weathered shell of the tower, with a few rotting floor beams and the last residues of the cap frame. Mill interior, 1960′s. At least five windmills have at some time in the past operated on the high land at the north end of the village. The earlier ones were post mills, which were either destroyed by fire or dismantled for re-erection on new locations. The sites of several of these mills are known and well-known local milling families, the Griffins, the Chesters and the Kerbys, worked them. One of these mills was reportedly overturned in a gale in the early part of the 19th century, the man in charge being killed. It was then re-erected on a site nearby and, after operating for a while, was dismantled in 1895 on the death of its owner when parts of the timber and the stones were offered for sale. Hough Mill sale poster. Hough Mill stones. Encouraged by the efforts of miller Nigel Moon and the expert advice of Consultant John Boucher, the Trust made plans to refurbish the structure by installing windows, doors, floors and a correctly fabricated cap and to install some “stone floor” machinery we were able to obtain from a derelict mill. The Committee decided that everything done should be, in effect, a stage of total restoration and should not hinder future work by a more affluent and more adventurous committee in time to come. A Mill sub-committee was appointed and was successful in obtaining a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of up to £70,883, which enabled the satisfactory completion to be made of that stage of the work. Interpretation panels have been added and two models of wind mills have been made by local craftsmen, a Post Mill and a Tower Mill. The Trust became very proud winners of Leicestershire County Council’s Award for Independent Museums 2000, sponsored by the Leicester Mercury.   Replacing the stones. Defining the rim at the top of the brickwork.   Replacing the floor joists. Finishing the new mill cap. The Great Spur wheel. Hough Mill refurbished. A gathering outside the mill after the Califat mining disaster dedication. The Mill is continually developing. Here the top floor takes shape.   Children milling corn. Mill furniture. The exhibition in the Jerry Leakins building next to the mill. A stationary enging can be seen grinding flour via a 1916 Bamford corn mill.

When you’ve got friends and family in different parts of the world, have you ever forgotten the time difference and rang someone at 3.00 am in the morning? Funny how they don’t seem to be imbued with their usual sense of humour!!! Fortunately, we have the answer. Check out 2 and 3 City clocks on the Tarragon Gifts site under Executive Gift ideas!

In 1549, the “Book of Common Prayer” was published and the first wedding vows were introduced to the world but before then, and until they were commonly recognized as part of a ceremony, the father and the groom would meet and agree that his daughter would be the “groom’s” wife. This was usually accompanied by an agreement of services provided by the groom and a small dowry provided by the bride’s father. The wealthy lords and ladies of the day would put the agreement into a legal document to make it seem official and would hold a ball or party to make it official. This was the era where the first vows and the first marriage licenses came into play.

The ceremony and prayer went something like this. While the wealthy usually had a prominent church elder ordinate, the poorer class of people would have the local dicker or other minor clergyman present the groom to the bride and remind them that they were speaking publicly and before God and after a reading from the then accepted matrimonial verse from the Bible, the groom would say,

“I blank, take thee, blank, (odd to both have the same name!) to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance.”

Then the Bride would return with, I, blank, take thee, blank, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer of for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance.

This liturgy and variations of it and many other parts of today’s ceremony have endured through quite a few attempts to change it and in some instances, strike it from the vows altogether for something less biblical. The church always succeeded with the voice of the people behind it, keeping these sacred vows as popular today as they ever were. The only exception to this stand came in 1922 when the loud voice of the female population forced the Episcopal Church leaders to vote on whether to remove the word “obey” from the rite. The vote passed overwhelmingly with just of a few of the church’s oldest and more strict elders voting to keep it intact. Even if it had not passed back then, it is not very likely that the word would still be in the ceremony as now even most men agree that it is not a necessary or functional part of the wedding ideal. The phrase, “to love, honor, and obey” has since been replaced with, “to love, honor and cherish.” This is also in line with some scholars who argue that the translation involved in the original ceremony may have been inaccurate or at the very least, miscopied into the text.

The vows were almost always followed by the Ring bearer presenting the groom with the Ring Bearer Pillow so that he could bring the ceremony towards it happy conclusion and symbolize the union with the completed circle that the ring represents. The rings in today’s ceremony are kept by the best man and the ring bearer, when used, often carries inexpensive rings for symbolic reasons. In the modern world we live in, it is not uncommon for couples to add their own vows, writing to each other their thoughts and feelings and expressing their love for one another in their own words. While this adds a personal touch to the ceremony and also adds additional meaning to the emotions of the moment, the original vows are regarded as the most beautiful and popular in the world and will always be there for people to hear and enjoy on their special day.  (Unless like some people have done and that is getting married underwater!).

Of course, the wedding day would not be the same without the gifts for the newly weds to start their new life together.  If like most people, a helping hand is needed to select something appropriate, then you may find that assistance close by.