Parking Restrictions

[Image from Pixabay]

 Just a seasonably appropriate silly from me today. Saw this in Glastonbury a couple of years ago👻

Hope you have a great weekend!

Arilx

Joining the garden party

 After mulling over the best place to put these two [not that I'm a dithery Libran or anything!], I finally made my mind up and Mr GBT did the honours for me. These were my birthday present from him and another chance to support a Sussex business [Brighhelmstone]. Most of what the company offer can be bought in either a green or a sandstone finish.

Arilx

A little underwhelming!

After being able to show you the gorgeously coloured Green Elf Cup fungus on Monday, please try and contain your excitement at my personal contribution to the organised walk.....

Afraid it's hardly going to blow your socks off, but the expert who was going round with us seemed more interested [or he was feigning it well] than I had expected and put it in his basket along with the other specimens that people had handed over that he wanted to keep. Not only is it not much of a looker it also goes by the slightly unattractive name of Hazel Wart Wort. I know I've seen it many times before and you never know there's always a vague hope that I might just remember the name of this one. I can count on one hand the ones I'm sure of and this is another one of them.

Now I know these as King Alfred Cakes, but the mycologist referred to them as Cramp Balls. It was believed that you could prevent cramp if you carried one in your pocket. 

This one too has stuck in the memory banks from a previous encounter. It's the Earth Star and when you prod it out comes a plume of spores....it's a bit like one of those confetti cannons!

The one below is Beefsteak Fungus...it was quite gruesome when it's squeezed because it oozes a blood coloured liquid.

This one isn't classed as a fungus. It's actually a slime mould called Wolf's Milk.....as far as I know wolves milk isn't pink. I think it's alternative name of Toothpaste Slime is a little more apt.

Aside from that any other names I was given have already tottered out of my noggin or I didn't catch them in the first place. We saw many more, but my little camera was struggling with the light levels in the woods so the flash bleached out all of the colours badly.  These are some of the ones people found at the end of the walk all rounded off with a good old cuppa and an appropriately themed biscuit!🍄🍄🍄

It's always fascinating to learn more about what is hidden away in the woods.

Arilx

Containing Your Anger

 A couple of years ago an acquaintance confided in me that she was very stressed and angry about a completely unfair and untrue review a "customer" had left for her business online. Up until this point in time this lady's professional reputation had been impeccable and she came as highly recommended. As you might imagine such unfounded lies could have left her career in tatters and she had to threaten legal action to clear her name which did eventually do the trick. I mentioned in passing that someone had once offered a very useful nugget of advice to deal with the aftermath of such emotional turmoil....write a personal letter to that individual and absolutely lay it on the line about how you feel. Don't hold back...be as venomous as you like and then.....burn it🔥

Next week when I saw her again she said she'd done precisely that and felt that she had really been able to clear all her pent up emotion out of her system, regroup and move forwards. I've only ever had to do it once myself and it was many years ago....I quite shocked myself by what I wrote, but it achieved the cathartic effect I was looking for. This erm "alternative" version shared by my friend last week reminded me of the conversation I'd had, but this one made me guffaw in a slightly wicked way!

Arilx

Not on the Amazon wishlist.

If we're pressed most of us have a wishlist of some description. Mine perhaps differs a little because most of what I want you can't buy...I'm more in the camp of wanting to see certain things. Out on a fungus foray with friend E on Sunday one more thing got ticked off. The tiny and fabulously coloured Green Elf Cup. This is the very same one that dyes the rotting wood the beautiful verdigris colour which was much sought after by cabinet makers for inlay which I wrote about here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2021/09/verdigris.html Although it's fairly common on the woodland floor at this time of year apparently it's easy to miss because it grows on the underside of the fallen branches. I guess that it must have been my lucky day then! PS I was on an organised walk and this was found by one of the children on it...apologies it reads like I discovered it and don't want to mislead anyone😳

Arilx

Angelic

 St Michael's church in Framlingham has a whole lead frieze of these Arts and Crafts angels running around the outside. They were put up as part of a 19th century make-over. I liked the Medieval feel to them.

Have a good weekend and thank you for all your good wishes about TYM's news. We are pleased for him that he has achieved what he set out to do.

Arilx

News

 

As a general rule I don't share much in the way of personal news. However, am pleased to say that TYM got his Masters yesterday. He had planned to do it all down in Brighton, what he got was a grotbag of a year stuck in his tiny bedroom studying all of it remotely. He's loving his new job in London working in his field of expertise and as a part of a team of real like-minded people.

Arilx

[Image from Pixabay] 

Rocking it.

 We popped over to see Mr GBT's sister and hubby on Saturday for lunch. Whilst out for a walk with them and their three hounds we passed a front garden which was full of these painted rocks. Usually the ones I see are done by small people, but some of these were really well done and a little different to the norm. Hopefully a little something to brighten your day👻 as we approach Halloween.

Arilx

An unplanned jaunt.

There are times when I'm a tad dippy....last Friday I knew that I was meeting 3 of my oldest friends, but somehow in the excitement of it all I had forgotten that we had agreed to go for a walk. As luck would have it I already had my boots in the back of the car, but I didn't have my camera with me. Murphy's Law states when that happens you will see things that you would like to capture...so crappy phone camera it had to be then!

I find it fascinating looking at other people's photos of a shared experience....we all took photos of completely different things. This was my small selection from an area very close to my home, yet one I have never explored.

C is responsible for spotting this first one lurking in the hedge. She's a keen plantswoman, but couldn't remember the name of the huge leaves that looked so out of place on the verge of the lane. Whilst I could provide her with "Gunnera" I'm pretty sure that I would still have missed the flower spike if she hadn't pointed it out. It's not as if it's a small target is it now! Its architectural form is most pleasing.

Sharpenhurst Farm is one of those where the public foothpath passes straight through the middle. The farmhouse itself dates back to the 1300s [not shown] but nowadays it hosts weddings. It's sited at the base of the hill of the same name and once we had climbed to the top we had to stop and admire the view. At special times like the Millenium, there is a beacon lit which links with other ones that can be seen stretching across the neighbouring hills. Friend J says that the Platinium Jubilee will be marked in this way next year so hopefully I might be able to see it for myself. It's one of the highest points around us here and normally you get a fabulous view of the South Downs [it's J's favourite], but it was murky when we were there so we couldn't see very far. I'll badger her to take me back again on a fine day though

J knows the route like the back of her hand, but I went along roads and past buildings that I simply didn't recognise as ever having seen before. Naturally this one with all its additional accoutrements and hare weather vane appealed to me. The perimeter wall was festooned with little fairy doors!

Frankly the only certain thing about going on any walk is that at some point you're going to come across something completely unexpected.....there was a load of these old pods all lined up and looking rather folorn in the scrap yard. I wonder where they came from and what their eventual fate will be.

Having completed our walk with the four of us catching up [we haven't all been able to be together for over a year because most of the time B lives in the Middle East where her husband works, so most of our contact is via Zoom] it was then back to J's for yet more nattering and bucket loads of tea⛾ I am looking forwards to the next time we meet.

Arilx

Peeking out.

 Sadly I can't tell you much about this old chair apart from it was carved in 1600 and is in St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. It was well worth the time spent to have a proper look at it as mixed in amongst all the religious iconography there were little faces peeking out all over the place....even the bottom of the legs hadn't been missed!

We are off to visit family this weekend...enjoy whatever you're getting up to!

Ar

Silence

"A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words."

B K Swathi

 This is the space set aside for silent contemplation at Hidcote Gardens where we went back in the summer. 

Arilx

A spot of gardening

On one of my regular routes into town there is a small cut through I like to use which has is a tiny piece of scrubby land with a stream running along the bottom of it. At times people have used it to dump their detritus [flytipping swines😠], so it was a lovely, if mildly puzzlingly, change when I started to spot a few flowers popping up here and there during the summer. I thought perhaps someone had just scattered a packet of seeds in the hopes that they might germinate. Towards the end of last week I then saw two chaps on the far side of the fence. Unable to resist being snouty I asked them if they were the guerilla gardeners who were responsible for the small changes I'd noticed. Indeed they were and so I took the opportunity to thank them in person for all their efforts thus far. Apparently they've got plans to make it even better next year⚘⚘

Since my last wander past this sign has appeared. The road opposite is called Shandy's Close, but up until I saw this I had no idea what "Shandy" was. Back in the 1960s this area was all farmland and one of the fields was lived on by some local travellers. One was a carter who had a sandy coloured horse called Shandy. It was well known to the local children and many would feed it as they went past. Informally the field became known as Shandy's Field in honour of its permanent equine resident and when the land was sold for a school to be built on this family were the last to leave. Amazingly Shandy's name lives on and it's been good to be able to learn the story behind the name.🐴

Just a small local snippet, but then these small moments are actually what makes up most of my daily life and they are the ones that are so easily forgotten.

Arilx

Illuminating

 I am sharing just the single set of photos of the one piece of work by the artist Judy Hurst. This lady's work has been inspired by the Medieval illuminated manuscripts which she has then gone on to develop into her own glorious style. Horsham Museum is currently holding an exhibition of her work and this one is called "The Horsham Carpet Page". If you like what you see please do hop over to her website here https://www.judyhurst.co.uk/ .

Arilx

Lazy bones

 I just couldn't be bothered to put my winter woolies in the wardrobe on Friday morning after I'd got them out of the loft......this was the result🐈😼

Once his plumpness had enjoyed a goodly snooze I got my rump into gear and tidied it all up! Fairly par for the feline course.

Arilx

The reopening.

If I'm on my own in the town two of my favourite things to do are to visit the library and the museum. I can never leave the first without a pile of books and the latter without having unearthed a new gem or taken in one of their ever changing exhibitions. The library reopened some months ago, but much to my sadness the museum has remained shut since the first lockdown and the reopening date has been put back several times. Thankfully that day has finally come and it opened its doors once more last weekend. Today was my first chance to go. During its closure the team have taken the chance to empty the cabinets and completely restructure the displays. Perhaps some will be unhappy with the results of this radical overhaul, but I, for one, have embraced the changes. It has freshened the whole place up and breathed new life into it. Naturally I was my usual snap happy self, but I shall limit myself to just the one here. Shards of stunning Roman glass found in London.

Have a great weekend folks!

Arilx

Open the door please!

 If I see this at the Natural History Museum is it any wonder that I want a member of staff to open it for me.....wouldn't you?!!🧞

Sadly it didn't happen, but I left much happier knowing where this fellow now hangs out😆

[Pixabay image]

Just a silly today...am intrigued though!

Arilx