Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

 Three years ago during the summer of 2020 my friend Lisa had lifted one of her plants and divided it. She offered me a clump which we bunged in the garden. Yesterday I was rewarded with its first flower [with more to come]. Some sort of daylily I do believe....perhaps a tawny one?🧡 Whatever it might be it's mighty fine. It did come as a bit of a shock finding it though because the truth is that I had completely forgotten about ever planting it [gardening not being my thing], but it made for a great discovery! Hope everyone has a great weekend. Arilx

Not for the first time I'm sharing a picture of the display of mummified animals they have out in Chippenham Museum when I was there back in the Spring. I always take photos of such things because the magical practices of everyday folk is of great personal interest to me, but I wasn't planning to show them.....so what changed my mind? One of the things I particularly enjoy about adventuring is the researching and teasing out of any tales that may emanate from the things I encounter on my travels. I'd looked forward to reading more about this set of a cat, rat, toad and frog upon my return in my well thumbed copy of "Magical House Protection" by Brian Hoggard so was a little surprised to find that it made absolutely no mention of it. Being a bod who likes to help I decided to send a message to Dr Hoggard about it, but fully expected him to know about it. He replied immediately to confirm that he'd not heard of this example, so with an apology about the quality

 I wasn't going to put up any photos from Mythago's latest jaunt to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice, but it was such an incredible day that I'm afraid that I can't resist just sharing the one! This time the sun shone for us and most unusually we've abandoned our normal Gothic black tatters. With ten minutes at the end we grabbed the chance to photograph all the new kit we've been busy sewing over the last couple of years for our Greenman story. It's certainly bright when you see it all together like that. Rest assured we'll be back in black next time we dance out. There's a fine line between this being cool and crossing over into My Little Pony territory! Thanks for indulging me. Arilx

Before we travel I compile a list of possible places or things I'd like to see in the area where we'll be going. From this point it's then a case of looking at where we're staying and whether any of the things are either grouped near one another or if they're a feasible distance as we don't want to spend the whole time driving. If they make it through this stage then Mr GBT puts the destinations on to the satnav except this time he came back to me to say he couldn't find Garfield. I'm probably a woman who has cats [or hedgehogs] on the brain most of the time, but no it wasn't Garfield the Cat I was wanting to visit, but the tiny Herefordshire village of Garway. If anyone is into visiting churches one of the most famous ones in the county and arguably nationally is Kilpeck because it's got the most extraordinary complete set of Romanesque carvings done by the so called Herefordshire School of Carving. It seems likely that these masons were taught

 We'd been out of the car a mere twenty minutes when I stumbled across this up a side street in Cricklade. Normally a meter cupboard wouldn't draw my attention, but then usually it doesn't have this in the middle of it..... Of course, being me I had to stop and take a second look....I knocked politely, but there was no gnome at home! Walking a little further down I spotted my quarry in the window of the big house [that's a black blind you can see behind the little fella so I wasn't invading their privacy]. Obviously Monday afternoon is for lifting weights for this particular gnome😆 Have a great weekend everyone....we're dancing in a certain set of rather well known stones down in the West Country for a belated Solstice celebration with the druids. Arilx 

 There were three things I wanted to see when we were on holiday. The first was that rude flashing male carving which I put up last week and this is the second. The very beautiful 'Celtic' [I use that term loosely] princess Malvhina. She's the work of Rose Garrard and is fed by the three Malvern springs from Happy Valley, Rushey Valley and Ivy Scar Rock. By the time the water emerges it has been fully filtered and is safe to drink [apparently]. Her design is inspired by different periods in Great Malvern's history from the ancient standing stones to the Medieval statues and the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite movement. She'd look very much at home in the Chalice Well garden in Glastonbury. During the welldressing season she's often swathed in glorious garlands. Do have a look online if you want to see her in all her floral finery. She exudes a great sense of peace and calm in our harried world.  Arilx P.S. I shall aim to show you the third item which was on my wishlist

 On 15th June 2013 I invited people pull up a chair and take a read if they liked what they saw. In all honesty it was for me to have somewhere to share the many quirky and fascinating things I encounter, to write about my experiences and record the snippets of social history I adore. It was also somewhere that I would leave my private life pretty much at the door and use the space to appreciate what riches I have. It followed on from a dark and turbulent period which had left me in a low place, but it was the first time I had risked creating something with my own stamp and put it out for others to see. In many ways taking that step has been greatly enriching and through it I have come to a far better understanding of who I really am. It's been a very positive experience and has made me determined to keep the content generally light even when I might be below par. A decade on many things have changed for the better, but the things I loved when I started are still very much with me.

 Today it's Sussex Day which, until recently, hasn't been much of a thing for most people who live in the county. Along with the recent rise in popularity of folk, Morris dancing and Paganism there seems to be a thirst for creating new traditions and like buses, Mythago is dancing at two new events this year to mark it. I rather like that we're going to be in West Sussex today and over in East Sussex tomorrow. The temperatures are due to cool down a little, which for purely selfish reasons, as a daft bat who chose to join a side who wear masks, I am grateful for. One thing I have learnt over the years is that when it's hot at these events I not only need to take on a lot more liquid, but I lose a lot of salt....it gives me the perfect excuse to eat crisps😄 [well that's my excuse anyway!!] I expect lots of us are leaving bowls of water out in our garden to help the wildlife at the moment [my two hoggies are always very thirsty when they come out] and I've seen s

 Good evening folks...yup 'tis me back from my holihobs with a piece of rudery for you. Before you ask it's to be found in the upstairs in the church cafe in All Saints church in Hereford. No coincidence either that I just happened to choose the table directly below it. It's one of the well known so called "exhibitionist" figures, but the argument that they were all there to warn of man's baser nature I find hard to believe for this one. It's so high up and tucked away I very much doubt anyone could have seen it in the gloom. Most of the people sitting enjoying a quiet cup of coffee had absolutely no idea this was just above their heads😈 We had a fabulous holiday. Arilx P.S. I've just learnt that his nickname is Seamus O'Toole!

 Usually the toppers round here are made for a specific purpose in mind....more often than not either a charity campaign or a social issue. The motivation for this one was rather different....simply that the little children should have something nice to see on their walks to and from school. I would have loved it when I was a child. I am going to be away from the blog for a few days, but hopefully will return with tales to tell. Have a great weekend. Arilx