Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

Lunar Marbled Brown Powdered Quaker  Seraphim Pale Prominent The weather in May this year has not been conducive for moths and I have also learnt that you should not put the trap out too often as the moths need to be able to feed in their short life cycle. However, Lady Luck has been kind and we have seen all these new ones plus many other bugs. My favourite non winged critter was a tiny green orb weaver spider [luminous green body], but much too fast and too small to photograph!  https://www.uksafari.com/gorbweaver.htm#:~:text=Quick%20Facts&text=Special%20features%3A%20Green%20Orb%2Dweavers,seen%20from%20underneath%20the%20spider. Arilx

 I set out to make a conventional Victoria sandwich cake for my friend's birthday last week. Mid way through boredom struck and I decided that only green icing, sugar strands and vibrant rainbows [from the supermarket] would do. So, as another friend commented "Bungle and Zippy" [from Rainbow] would be proud" I happily handed it over, he chuckled and tucked in. 🌈🌈🌈  Have a great weekend with hopefully some more clement weather and sunshine wherever you are! Arilx

 Carrying on from yesterday, more hither-to unnoticed treasures from the gem that is Standen House, but inside this time. The Arts and Crafts movement in all its glory and some funky cacti in the conservatory. I don't know who was more excited about being allowed back ....me or the room stewards. One lady did wryly comment that she wasn't sure how much she would actually be able to remember if anyone asked her any questions after the six month hiatus and not being able to have their usual handbooks with them for now. I reassured her that I shall be exactly the same when I finally get back to dancing [next month hopefully]. Anyway must stop nattering and get on with it!  Not long now until we really do travel to see new things elsewhere in the country.....am counting the days now!! Arilx

We made it back for a return visit to the utterly gorgeous Standen House [NT] last weekend , but at this time only the ground floor of the house is open which left us with additional time to explore. The predicted showers didn't materialise so we took advantage and took ourselves off for a wander round the estate. I'm so glad that we bothered😀 This sweet little building is called the bothy. You can't get inside it at the moment, but it has a beautiful coloured glass door and window. I did my best to get a shot of it, but it will be splendid to see it with the light shining through one day. With various sculptures dotted through the woods behind the house I have to say that the metal sofa under the willow arbor was a first for me. I thought it was made of leather from afar. Some of the views from different sides of the house.   I am guessing that normally there would be more flowers out to see, but with May having been such a cold month this year everything is rather behind

"The need of quiet The need of air..... The sight of sky and of things growing Seem human needs Common to all." Octavia Hill Very true. I asked Mr GBT to take this photo for me as my camera wouldn't capture it properly. We've been back to one of my favourite NT properties...I swore that I wouldn't return until I could go inside the house once again. Thankfully now that time has returned. Arilx PS I've been told that this flower is a tricolour perennial wallflower.  

  After a busy week I'm going to leave you with this planter we saw in Dorking last year. Hope you have a relaxing weekend. Arilx

Another new word gleaned from the bbc news website....operculism which is the study of manhole, coalhole and drain covers. Now to my knowledge I have only ever taken this one photo of one and in my defence it was when I was in Oslo trying to capture as many of the details as possible. Besides despite perhaps the rather dull reputation of such utilitarian items this one was a bit of a stunner. Last year on our daily hour of exercise, restricted to the same few well trodden routes round our immediate area, I began to consider looking at almost anything in a desperate bid to see something new and that's when I began to notice just how many differently patterned examples there are around. Some of them really are quite attractive. I did take this one last weekend I must confess, but in my defence it was only so that I'd have something to add to the post content [that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it]. However, I'm not planning on taking this up as a hobby just yet!! Ar

That vehicle you can just glimpse in the background is a 1974 milk float that has been transformed by a team of people into an eco inspiration station during the past few months when we've all been in lockdown. This is Sussex Green Living's latest venture and, having recently received a grant, it will be taken round lots of local events and manned by different SGL volunteers who will be there to try and inspire people and answer their questions. It was another "madcap scheme" [her words not mine!] by the founder of SGL [that's her with the clipboard just having finished her speech] Carrie and to her amazement lots of people came forward and threw their weight behind it. I haven't been involved in this particular project as am already busy  being part of the Wombles team [am helping out every couple of weeks and having a ball along with all the stuff I sort at home in my garage] and will be back in the Repair Cafe when it restarts in July [fingers crossed]. How

Walking back to my car I spotted this in somebody's front garden. The colours and textures interrupted my busy train of thought and for a moment I paused to admire its startling beauty. A moment of simplicity to start your Tuesday. Arilx  

Humphrey is outraged.....why you might well ask is a cat outraged about an ordinary bench sitting quietly off a residential street?   Well just take a look at that plaque on it.....he's outraged that a fellow feline has allowed his staff to give him a rodent based name and as for the "donated his cat food money for 7 days" bit....well.......  Indeed he is so cross that he can't currently decide which part he is the most outraged about so he thought he'd take an eight hour little snoozelet to rest his poor angry brain before he lets me know which one he's chosen! Much as I wish I'd been the one to spot this I can't claim the credit....somebody else found it this time. However, as I was passing en route to dropping off yet more bottle tops for recycling I thought I'd take five minutes out of my day to get some photos and share the smile! Arilx

I liked this when I saw it outside a cafe this week. Have a wonderful weekend. Arilx 

Billingshurst is another local village to me and the one that I lived in when we first moved to West Sussex as a child. Ice Badger lives even closer to it, but only comes in occasionally to buy food. For that reason alone it was going to be a dead cert that we were both going to see new things! There has been a settlement here since Roman times and Stane Street [Roman road] runs straight through the centre of it. It has always been a prosperous place and in earlier times its wealth came from coaching and market trading. These days with its medieval centre still largely intact and decent modern facilities it is continuing to attract people wanting to make it their home. The parish church of St Mary has parts dating back to the 1200s, but it saw a major refurb in the Victorian era so the inside is pleasant, but not one that particularly appeals to me. I did think that the lion artwork was rather appealing though. On the shingled broach tower is a half sized replica of London's Big Be