Sundown

 This was whilst I was out on a bat and moth walk last Friday. Stunning💛🧡

I shall be conspicuous by my absence for the next week or so. David and I are going off to have some mild adventures!

Arilx

A Medieval Lunch Break

When I am out with Mythago there is very little free time to look around the events we're performing at. Over the bank holiday weekend we were back dancing at the Medieval festival over at Michelham Priory. I had 45 minutes for a whistlestop tour and no time to chat to the re-enactors bar the owner of the cat. This is Biscuit who is very happy on her lead. She's a friendly puss, but was keen to be put down and get exploring🐱 I took the decision to snatch some photos whilst passing which will capture the flavour of the day and leave me with some lovely memories. 

These two were just comparing notes on their weapons of choice as you do when you're both dressed in mail and wearing helmets.

This three legged pot is called a pipkin. I only know this because the mudlarks are always finding the legs of them on the Thames foreshore.

This is the only image from the inside of the priory. I have walked through the crypt numerous times, but unusually for me apparently not looked up. It came as quite a surprise to see this fellow looking decidedly out of sorts above me.

It truly is a special event with a very relaxed feel to it. It is definitely on my list of favourites that we do. Here's hoping that we might be invited back again next year. After five years [and a previous two year stint prior to that] I recently stood down as the secretary for the side. I felt that I had given my best and it was the right time to pass the reins on to a new candidate. I can now just turn up and enjoy it without having any responsibility for organising anything😁

Arilx

Second Hand September

I am reliably informed that we're now in Second Hand September....we have no such thing in this household because every month is pre-loved either receiving or giving away stuff. Having never been a very good capitalist I am much more of a circular economy kinda gal and seeing the damage rampant consumerism is doing to the planet I'll stick in my lane thanks. This lovely pair of china wrens were made by a potter on the Isle of Scily so their previous owner told me...note the use of the word 'previous' for now they have come to live with me and join my much loved wren which was the first present David bought me way back in 1990. I now have my very own chime of wrens💙

Arilx

!!!

!!! 

The exclamation mark is a particular favourite punctuation mark of mine. You can use it in a myriad of ways to convey different effects and emotions when writing. It's not new. Indeed it's been kicking around since the 14th century when the Italian poet Iacopo Alpoeio da Urbisaglia put it to good use following his frustration over the issue of people reading emotional passages with all the emotion of a dead fish. It is supposedly derived from the Latin exclamation for joy io which would be put at the end of sentences. Gradually over time the o became denote as a dot with the i becoming the line above it....or so the story goes!

Arilx

Welcome September

 I should like to welcome my favourite month with an appropriate moth. The September Thorn.

Arilx

You've been reframed.

Since he could first read and write TYM has had a love of maps. This has come straight from my Dad and David. Right from the get go he would draw maps to relax and pore over atlases and even to this day his extensive geographical knowledge and love of exploring is very much at the core of who he is. I don'y suppose many six year old boys had their cupboard doors decorated with huge painted maps they'd done themselves. Nowadays he uses these skills to plan walks which he leads for the walking group he's a member of. I stumbled upon this rather lovely map of Middle Earth that he drew as a young teenager tucked away in a folder when I was decluttering. I felt like it should be out where I can enjoy it so picked up a cheap frame from the charity shop which I've redone black and painted on with LOTR runes so that it is in keeping with the theme.

Hope you have a fab weekend

Arilx

 

Tales from the abbey part 3.

 The last of my summer's abbey visits and this time it was Sherborne which is built out of the most fabulous honey coloured sandstone. As ever I have mainly snapped the details which caught my eye as we wandered around with any additional information included where appropriate.

There are hundreds of years between these two stained glass windows, but each are stunning. Am loving those medieval hats....wonder what they'd make of our fascinators or the bucket hat😂

Small inclusions like the rings on this lady's fingers give us an insight into the fashions of the time and how those who could afford it were wearing their jewellery.

The carving of this cranberry glass rederos is next level. It was done by Laurence Whistler in 1968 and it bears a second look because the engraving is incredible. Those angel wings💗

People often quip that nothing is new. Flooding has been around since the time of Noah [allegedly] and this report gives a full account of one such incident in 1709. There's a goodly crop of long ss in there.

Misericords are always fascinating for the spectrum of material they record. I feel blessed to have seen examples showing everyday life, folklore and religious scenes, but the first one has me foxed. There is little doubt about the second one...it looks like one of the young monks has stepped out of line and boy is that cudgel going to hurt!!

Looking at this you might imagine that you are looking at a bone skull. It is actually carved from sycamore by Martin Turner, but the abbey is famous for housing two sets of bones....

These skeletons are believed to be the remains of King Ethelbald and King Ethelbert. They were the older brothers of Alfred the Great. I do feel that Alfred's family have been following me around this year as I have encountered his jewel in Oxford, his son and daughter in Romsey, his grandson in Malmesbury and himself in Winchester. Only this week have I found that we have a local connection to him because his father Ethelwulf died and was buried in the original wooden Saxon church in Steyning in 858AD.His body was later transferred to Winchester. The whereabouts of father and son are no longer known. Funny old world isn't it.

There are no more plans to visit any abbeys, but plans can change....

Arilx