One enchanted evening

 On a velvet black night with shimmering pinprick stars overhead Nymans wove its magical spell ....

I am so glad that we've been lucky enough to see the "Ignite" show by day and night. Different things came forward and we would have missed many of the sculptural details in the dark. We really have had the best of both worlds. Have a good weekend.

Arilx

Beautiful

 When I was working this morning I looked up and saw this on the wall. Beautiful.

Arilx

Everything stops for tea!

 What's a gal to do when Sunday is grey, blowing a hoolie and threatening showers...nothing's really wrong, but by the same token it's all feeling a bit meh.....you meet your friend J, walk from your house into the town and put the world to rights in a fabulous independent cafe. Some time later you both emerge, by which time it's raining properly, but you know you've both got hoods and you've found a lightness of spirit again. Suddenly nothing feels quite so bad as it did  when you arrived and your sense of humour has returned. Nothing has changed, but everything has changed☁🌦🌥⛅ Tea, cake and laughter was definitely the right tonic!

Whilst I am not normally in the habit of photographing eateries the cakes here were so stunning to look at I made an exception!

Arilx

Falling back on the familiar

 I had "thought" I would be writing about an outdoors event I was meant to be going to with Guiding J over in East Sussex, but then Storm Eunice with all her repercussions happened and it was rightly cancelled due to safety concerns. So hope it's ok one and all, but I'm falling back on another weekend wander from home a couple of weeks ago for this post.

These two are only a few metres apart and like everyone else I just walk over them. If you asked me what they were I'd have said drain covers. However, I think that they're more likely to be coal holes. Seeing as the patterns are different I shall have to see if I can spot anymore. It's rather nice to notice that something so mundane has such pleasing decorative details.

There are some lovely daisy wheel carvings on an ancient wooden chest inside the parish church which are echoed in the later more modern [probably Victorian] pews. It's a design which stretches way back in time.

 

I have to say this lion's expression of forbearance does rather make me smile...it's had to put up with Thomas de Braose resting his feet on his back since 1395!🦁

I can only think that this gorgeous door is normally covered by the blue curtain. I know it's tucked away behind the organ, but I'm sure with those handmade nails and gloriously wonky arrangement of metalwork, I'd have seen it. Be still my beating heart! It leads to the vestry, so I must have gone through it when I went to sign the register the day I got married...

This GPO post caught my attention for the broad arrow mark [or crow's foot as it's also known] on it. Initially I thought it was the OS benchmark, but it's lacking the line above it. I have only ever this in the context of military equipment, but apparently it was used to denote any government property. More info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow

A bit of imaginative upcycling going on here...one of the local businesses has repurposed a couple of old chairs into its planter instead of trellis.

And this one...just because. The local Italian deli always does its windows in such an eyecatching and innovative way. This time they've got this beautifully painted Indian bike . Hard to avoid the reflections, but just gorgeous. The roads would be a much cheerier place if our lorries had a similar style of paintwork🌈💜🧡💛💚💙

Arilx

The concertina

Huzzah...after 18 months away we were able to return to our local folk club a few months ago. We don't go every time, but usually join our friend C there when they have live music. On our most recent visit it was a fabulous band called "Monkey see, monkey do." Lots of lively jigs and reels....the life affirming, uplifting style of folk which is my absolute favourite. It's on a Sunday night, so accompanied by a pint of ale it not only extends the weekend feel, but finishes on a high note.

I don't know if anyone watches Michael Portillo's "Great British Railway Journeys" programmes on BBC2 [probably only geeky old me!!], but on a recent episode they had a musician playing sea shanties on a concertina except that he wryly commented that he prefers to call it his "constant screamer". This amused me and I was reminded of it when one of the members played a solo spot on the same instrument. His, he had inherited from a former member who is no longer with us, but was quite a character and a reprobate by all accounts. It came in this fabulous hand painted box which shows the flags of East and West Sussex along with the Sussex knucker dragon and the devil who appears if you run round Chanctonbury Ring backwards seven times. The owner kindly let us take some photos.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Arilx

Moth Trapping 2022

 Mr GBT and I both had amassed a rather magnificent backlog of 2021 photos to be edited [he had more than me] and it was with great glee that I informed him that I had done all mine and therefore won because I'd finished first. However, as we all know, pride comes before a fall.....erm "what about the 179 moth photos you've still got to do?" he shot back triumphantly. OK....I'll declare it a draw on this one occasion and yes I really have finished this time. With the help of a nifty little app called Obsidentify it's made the identification process 100% quicker and easier. If you're not a fan of moths please feel free to skip this post, but these are for my Dad as I know he likes to see them and he'll be pleased to hear that the trap has now been set up for the first time this year. He bought it for me originally.

Copper Underwing

Flame Shoulder

Flounced Rustic

Garden Grass Veneer

Large Yellow Underwing

Least Carpet

Mother of Pearl

Square Spot Rustic

White Point.

Willow Beauty

Arilx

Come Fly With Me.

It is my friend E's birthday next week and I wanted to treat her to a cuppa and a slice of cake by way of an early celebration. I asked her if there was anywhere she fancied going, but she texted back to say she was happy to go whereever. After an initial headscratch I suggested the cafe in Shoreham Airport [now called Brighton City Airport]. It opened in 1936 and still has planes flying from it. Whilst the Art Deco decor and building is a big draw I made my choice on a slightly different basis. Before E had her family she was cabin crew and loved it....she tells some great stories from that time. She's never lost her love of planes and even to this day she has an app on her phone against which she can check the route of any plane she spots flying overheard😀 As luck would have it she's only ever driven past the airport and I'm glad to say she thought it was fabulous. The weather even ignored the forecast as it was due to be cloudy with possible showers.....we got beautiful sunshine and blue skies.

That huge building in the background is Lancing College chapel.

There is a small room of memorabilia and this type of flying hat was all the rage with the female pilots of the 1920s....genuine leopard skin. Not something you would thankfully see in this day and age.

I last visited here in Feb 2015 when it was all covered in scaffolding. I always intended to come back, but not entirely sure what took me so long. We made our way back cross country and passed the Churches Conservation Trust church of St Botoplph's which sits at the base of the South Downs. E asked if we could pop in [I've been before https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=the+grumpy+trout+went+out] but it's always good to revisit these places. It's utterly charming. We both agreed that we are definitely Downswomen at heart as we watching the clouds scudding across the big skies. I am very lucky living in this little part of the world.

Arilx