Scare Crow

 There's been a lot of miles covered by the GBT crew these past few weeks....I have loved every minute of it with all the new experiences and places I've been, but it's been fabulous to simply stay very local this weekend. That doesn't mean that it's been a total choresfest [we have been able to catch up on lots of small things which has been handy] though by any means...yours truly trundled four miles up the road to seek out a local scarecrow trail which is being run as part of the village fete. Perhaps because scarecrows are, by their very nature, scruffy and rough looking people are more inclined to have a go. As ever there was great ingenuity shown with a reimagining of all sorts of unexpected items!

First things first someone went for a literal interpretation for we do have here I believe a scare crow [actually a rather friendly looking crow if you ask me]

I heeded Humpty's warnings and waited until I was safely across the threshold before I cracked open a bottle of wine. I didn't expect any dire consequences as I only had the one glass full.

This baby was suspended out of a top floor bedroom window.

Don't know about this one, but this one poking over the gate gave me the fright of my life!

Finally one which has cleverly taken the name of the village and run with it😁 Years ago the local paper managed to cook up a whole April fool story about the toothpaste mines here.

Half an hour of simple pleasure in the sunshine.

Arilx

The beauty of a window

 I came across this window when I was away....the colours took my breath away💙💚

Hope you have a peaceful weekend with much joy.

Arilx

Wittering and Whittling

 With the summer having been more than a little tardy with putting in an appearance this year, I actually took layers and wore my knitwear when I was away. It most definitely wasn't warm enough for shorts at a nippy 14C! However, the mercury has now risen and even Aril has brought her modest summer wardrobe down from the loft. Since my return I've been diligently going through our clothes and weeding out the ones which really are now officially worn out. We are lucky here in that we can book a free doorstep textile recycling collection and by the time I've finished we'll have a few bags worth between us. The button tin is enjoying a bit of a top up too.

Not all items have made the final cut though. These jeans had a hole in the knee, but I've decided that they can still be kept for walking in as it won't matter if they get muddy. Ticks are aplenty round here though so I didn't want to leave them any access points. With that in mind I plundered Mr GBT's old jeans for their unworn back pockets and dug out my fabric paints. Might as well have a bit of fun with your mending eh...

That done I'm now on a bit of a roll with small projects. I have to grab the opportunity whilst I'm in the zone because previous experience tells me that it will soon pass😀 Recently I attended an event put on by the Wellderness which is a Sussex based enterprise offering people in the community access to nature. It's held on private land in the South Downs and on this particular day there was a chance to have a go at whittling. It's not something I've ever done before, but I found it very relaxing. In the end I simply whittled a stick, but it's allowed me to drop the final piece into completing a project which I rather aimlessly started back in the first lockdown. These folkart pieces were handstitched from stuff I just had laying about....in the spirit of make do and mend they were old clothes which I had cut up and the stuffing came from an old pillow. I got as far as finishing them, but then couldn't work out what I wanted to do with them. I now have the answer and they are destined to go up on to our bedroom wall where they will be very much in keeping with what we've already got in there.

I know that I'm going to have to get on and make a new dancing mask as the current one is tatty and spliting....thank goodness I've got another idea up my sleeve for another small project so that I can put it off for just a bit longer😁

Arilx

Little London By The Sea

 'Little London By The Sea' or as you most probably know it....Brighton and Hove 'actually'. Although it's 20 miles from here, I have danced in Tewkesbury several more times than here. Actually up until yesterday I'd only managed one measly pub stand about 10 years ago, so am now most delighted to have made amends. We had poorly souls yesterday, so I was kept busier flinging my sticks about than I had expected with no time for photos then. However, this is such a life affirming place and has such a groovy vibe [it has its problems like everywhere else granted] that I made it my mission to grab a few shots on our walk down from the car park. What you get here is oodles of colour and characters...it's the most fantastic place to people watch and frankly I think you'd stick out more if you turned up wearing a twinset and pearls. Several pieces of street art for you and a fellow who, having had a few sherbets, desperately wanted to gatecrash the dancing. Brighton Morris just shuffled up and made a space for him...then he stopped messing about and gave it a good go. The headgear was just hilarious😈 The ladies killing themselves laughing in the background are all part of the same group.

I'll endeavour to do a couple more holiday related posts, but you know me...this was a grab-and-go type of post which I could get out into blogland quickly just so that you know I'm still kicking around!

Arilx

Shropshire Church Crawling Gems

Sifting through all the photos from my annual holiday church crawl, I've picked out these which I hope people find to be of interest.

It's a fairly unremarkable grave isn't it. Certainly not one I'd normally stop for, but this required a drive along a rather steep and winding road along the edge of Long Mynd to reach in a tiny village called Ratlinghope which is in the back of the beyond. So what are we actually looking at here? It's the grave of Richard Munslow [1833-1906] who was a local farmer and supposedly the last sin eater in the area. Sin eating stretches back a long way and was used in cases where people died suddenly without having giving their final confession. Usually a poor person was paid to eat bread and drink ale from a wooden bowl passed over the deceased's coffin at the funeral. By doing so he had taken away the deceased's sins symbolically. It wasn't a practice that the church approved of, but it went ahead anyway. It seems very late in the day for people to still be continuing with this sort of thing, but the thinking is that perhaps this chap revived it following the tragic loss of three of his young children to Scarlet Fever all within a single week.

These faded paper confections hang in the church in Minsterley. Each one is about 300 years old and it's incredible that something made of paper should have survived. I know these as Virgin's Crowns, but they are also called Maiden's Garlands, Love Tokens or Cransties in Derbyshire. They were made in memory of local, unmarried women [and men in Hampshire] who were known to be of good character and virginal. During the funeral they were placed on top of the coffin and then sometimes put into the grave or displayed in the church as here. These examples have been cleaned and stabilised. It is a post Reformation custom.

Bygones of a lost era.

Arilx

The Knight of the Garter Stitch

 In my time I've come across knights made from stone and wood, but this is my first encounter with a knitted knight. We came upon this fellow in the CCT church of St Mary's in Shrewsbury and I believe that he's used as some sort of teaching aid.

 Have a great weekend.

Arilx

Bowlderise

 Bowlderise- verb meaning to omit or change parts of text [usually in literature] considered vulgar.

Yes it's a new-to-me word alert and all triggered by this photo which I took in Shrewsbury👀

This delight is to be found in the middle of the medieval quarter of the city and some say its origins lie in the narrowness of the street as the overhang of the houses almost meet making it necessary for any pedestrians to grope their way along in such a confined and dark space. That's a little too twee an explanation for my liking as the area was known as the place where the prostitutes would meet up to ply their trade. This is its name in a more acceptable form, but it and other examples elsewhere would most probably have had a word rhyming with runt, but starting with a c at the end of it. If you came here you'd have been left in no doubt as to what went on here. It's quite remarkable that this has survived even in its bowlderised form as many have been replaced by new names which doesn't carry even the slightest whiff of rudeness. I couldn't resist sharing this with you all😁 Yes the Mistress of Weirdness is back after her exciting travels and ready to share yet more nonsense with you!

Arilx