It's that bloke off the telly!

Perhaps you have seen the recent BBC2 series called "The Victorian House"? I watch so little TV that I think I might have caught a trailer for it and thought vaguely that I might catch up with it, but clearly hadn't done so when I spoke to this very friendly chap at the Repair Cafe.

A fellow volunteer/friend has a dollshouse and we were laughingly confessing how dusty both our houses are. With what my husband does for a living and my job as a cleaner I should perhaps be more embarrassed, but I don't give a fiddler's flute. My real house is pretty clean so that will have to do and besides I have just repainted the outside of it....dusting with a paintbrush will have to wait. I was showing her the photos of my furniture when she called this fellow over....

It transpired that this fellow is another local cabinet maker and I was admiring the photo of the Sussex Chair he'd made [you can see where I'm going with this can't you!] and when he asked me if he could pop by one day and see the my stuff for real [it's a step up from the photos] I readily agreed. We've shown many people what we do over the years. Still not having a clue who he was that's how I ended up with Abi popping in to GBT on Friday!

What a lovely fellow he is. Mr GBT and he enjoyed an hour of talking woodworking tools, techniqes and workshops. That chair he completed on the programme took two solid nights of no sleep and working through to complete! Purely by chance Mr GBT had just finished his latest piece so he was the first person to see it.....at long last the lady of the dollshouse can sit down in all her finery and play at the piano.

Arilx

From Pillar To Post

A few more from our nose around the building site artworks! This time it's the work of Tim Nash and incredibly these "cut columns" as they're called were originally the pink marble pillars from inside a Victorian church which was demolished [with much uproar!] in the town a few years ago [the spire was retained as a local landmark. Each one is carved on the top [too devilishly difficult to get photos of] and detailed on the sides.

You'll have to take my word for it when I say there's a wonderful skein of geese in their V formation as it was only possible to snap one side or the other. Poignantly, it was believed in Sussex that the noise that the geese made as they flew overhead was the sound of the lost souls of the unbaptised children.

However, to end on a rather jollier note this one is my favourite....can't for the life of me think why! Have a good weekend one and all.

Arilx

Looking All Wash[ing]ed Out

TYM sent me the footage of a black cat [terrified by the looks of it] tearing across the pitch at the Everton v Wolves match last Saturday with the comment....."best check where Humphrey is!" I reassured him that it couldn't possibly be our gentle giant as, along with his brushing duties, he's now added "Airer supervisor" to his CV.

I only have to put the basket of clean laundry down and that cat materialises out of thin air....how does he know I wonder. Anyway his "helping" consists of weaving in and out of the clothes as I'm trying to hang them and then darting back and forwards through the airer in the hope of a cuddle or at the very least a stroke in passing. Just as well he's such a dear and his antics make me laugh as he's a right Royal Pain!

All this extra responsibility has left him exhausted, so, no, he won't be appearing at any football matches in the near future!

Arilx

Over on the building site.

It was a hectic weekend what with being out both evenings, the Repair Cafe and then a big climate meeting afterwards, so what I definitely didn't fancy was going anywhere far in the car. Any adventures on Sunday needed to be local and within spitting distance of home.

There's lots of new builds going on around here at present which I flash past in the car normally, but I had a vague recollection of some public artworks having been put in within the last few months. We took many photos, but I'm just going to limit myself to these few and are a ten minute walk away. The oak sculptures are the work of Walter Bailey and are inspired by foxglove seeds. There are holes drilled into them to provide homes for insects and solitary bees.

Arilx

Extraction

It's all right you can come out from under the covers...there'll be no talk of dentists or toothypegs on this old blog of mine!

Without any guilty conscience I hold my hands up to being a thrifty old bird about most things, but over time I've decided that certain items warrant the additional investment for the increased pleasure they bring me. A few years ago I made the switch from vanilla essence to vanilla extract in my baking. Baking is one of my favourite ways to relax. For years now I have been intending to have a crack at making my own.....now with my new Make, Bake and Create challenge up and running you can guess what's coming next.....

Using this recipe https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-to-make-vanilla-extract I now have this steeping away in the cupboard. Cost wise I thought initially it was much the same as the shop bought one, but I'm left with a third of a bottle of vodka so think it might be a bit cheaper....now need to find a use for that!

Arilx

Tales of olde Sussex

Sometimes I think, when I encounter a beautiful chair like this or some other magical thing, how lovely it would be to wind the clock back to young childhood just for a few hours and to be able to see these things through the eyes of a child not a jaded adult....for is this not the perfect story telling chair?

Surrounded by little wooden stools as it is perhaps you might enjoy a tale such as this.....

In deepest, darkest Sussex down near the coast there lies the small village of Lyminster and besides its church 'tis a bottomless pond, known locally as the Knucker Hole. It's a place to be afeared for many of 'em has perished at the hands of the evil dragon who lives in the depths and made this pond their watery grave. Many souls were lost to this nefarious serpent. Until one day that was a local farmer's lad, Jim Pulk decided to end the monster's reign of terror. Knowing he had not the strength to slay the beast instead he baked him a huge pie. This, however, was not any old meat pie...it was the most delicious pie, but it had a secret....it was full of poison. Knowing how greedy the beast was, Jim called to him from the water's edge and that monster did eat that pie down in one big mouthful and immediately dropped down dead. So satisfied was Jim with his day's work that he did wipe the back of his hand across his mouth...but alas and alack he did then too imbibe poison and departed this earth......

Now it must be a true story for here's the whole tale commemorated in the window by Caroline Benyon in the nearby church and Jim's gravestone is stood next to it. You can even see the knucker hole if you peek through the hedge [it's now a privately owned fishing lake, so nosey parkers like me can't go and have a good old gander!]

The wooden chair is another piece by a local artist, Janine Creaye whose work I've featured before. Poignantly, it's called "Peter's Chair" and is permanently located at the Arundel Wildfowl Trust. Peter was a popular member of staff who sadly died young.

Arilx

Imbolc 2019

Imbolc blessings to all who celebrate the old ways. The days are lengthening once again.

Arilx