I spy with my little eye.

 We travelled across to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum recently. It's another of those cracking places that is completely run by volunteers and stuffed to the rafters with stuff. I was expecting there to be more planes [which to be honest I wasn't too disappointed to find that there weren't many], but instead they had cabinet upon cabinet of artefacts which told a plethora of fascinating stories. Military history is not a particular area of interest not should war ever be glorified, but the social aspects of it and hearing the stories of ordinary people doing remarkable things drew me in. I plan to do the place more justice in a fuller post after the madness of Christmas is past, but for now I'd like to share a few shots of the ingenuous use of everyday objects to conceal things which you would not have wanted to fall into enemy hands. Some of these items were given to POWs and others carried by those working as spies. 

The razor blades marked with Fleet, Cheerio and Kleen had a magnetizer on them and when floated on the surface of water the top edge pointed north.

False backed playing cards. If you peeled the front off there were map references below and the Joker contained the master key.

A fountain pen with a compass in the cap and a reduced sized ink sack so that it could hide a map.

Magnetised penclips, nibs and even a humble matchstick. The absolute gall. I wouldn't have suspected a thing!

It would seem that any item was considered fair game in the push to win the war. Anything from dominoes to pipes or hollow cotton reels which came apart. More examples below.

I can really see where Ian Fleming got his inspiration for James Bond and Q's inventions!

Aril꩜

You are who you've been looking for.

Sometimes I stumble across a powerful talk which really resonates. This is Adam Roa and his beautiful poem 'You are who you've been looking for'. 

Arilx

The magic of fairytales

 I am a person who likes parts of Christmas and strongly dislikes other bits. One thing I really don't enjoy is the crowds [and the rampant mindless consumerism] so I find strategies to get me through the madness of the season. As previous years' posts will show I am a sucker for a bit of festive sparkle and magic which I think the National Trust does superbly. When the NT first announces its plans for all its local properties I have a rootle through to see what appeals and then plan my visits for early in the launch. That way I get my fill of Christmas cheer, but am away before the masses descend. This year I have sneaked over to a place in Hampshire [more of that next week] and my lovely local Nymans. Aware that not everyone is a fan of this time of year such posts will be sprinkled in amongst the usual nonsense that I natter on about🎄

Thumbelina

Cinderella 

Goldilocks and the three [polar] bears. Wonderful attention to detail right down to bear themed Christmas cards.

Snow White

Beauty and the Beast.

🪄Hope you have a great weekend🪄

Arilx

RSPB Titchfield

 Towards the end of last month we travelled over to Hampshire to spend the night with one of David's sisters and her husband. We've always got on really well with them and this is something we did from time to time before we had all had children. It was really special just to have time to chew the fat round the table after dinner and enjoy a real catch-up. They, like us, enjoy a spot of informal birdwatching and even more so since we've all stopped working and have got time to spend in this way. It was a great pleasure to be taken round their nearest RSPB reserve at Titchfield. Alas I have no bird pictures as I prefer to simply watch them and soak up the atmosphere, but as you can see we had a glorious day for it. Was particularly thrilled to see a Marsh Harrier flying over the water with the copper sheen on its wings caught in the sunlight.

A most relaxing way to spend a morning.

Arilx

Mini wreaths.

 It has been many years since I've been on any sort of craft course. Way back when we were both earning reasonable salaries such treats were a staple part of my life which then stopped when redundancies fell. It's rather splendid to have ended the drought and rag rugging is something I've always wanted to try my hand at. Anything which uses fabric and even more importantly reuses scraps of fabric is a winner for me.

To be honest I tend to experience a bit of brain freeze when I'm in a group of people where I need to make a decision about what I want to make. Rather than getting my knickers in a twist over whether I was doing it right or not I just didn't look at anyone else's work this time. I knew that I didn't want to do a Christmas one so just cracked on with a selection of bold and hot colours. I've put patterns in there which shouldn't work together, but somehow they do. As it turns out my sister also went rogue...hers is the pink one. 

A couple of hours spent doing something creative did me the world of good. 

Arilx

Clearing the garage.

 We have had a thrilling time of late as we very slooowly work our way through some of the jobs we've been putting off until we'd retired. One of those joyous tasks was to completely declutter and tidy up the garage. We'd already done a tip run at the beginning of October, but believe me this detritus plays hide and seek with you and within a fortnight we had enough to fill the car again. This time I can confidently say we've finished and can tick that little fun filled and frolicsome chore off our list. I am afraid that absolutely nothing of any interest was excavated during this process. However, over in the Sussex village of Tangmere this homeowner has been very creative with all sorts of odds and sods and filled their front garden with all manner of beasts and vehicles. One of them has incorporated an old Singer sewing machine and some bent spoons!

Have a great weekend folks!

Arilx

The Gates of Hell

Out one Tuesday morning recently in a nearby village I unexpectedly encountered this- the gates of hell.

I have to admit that it's not quite how I had always imagined that they would look😈

Arilx

If the cap fits.

 You know how sometimes when you go somewhere you can't help thinking that such and such a person would love it here. Well that was me two years ago when I first visited the William Morris gallery in London with my fabulous pal Julie. Last month I finally made it happen and brought my equally fabulous friend Lorra back to experience some of the magic....

William Morris lived in this house during his teenage years with his very wealthy parents. He followed the expected trajectory and went up to Oxford from where he was was expected to enter the church after he had graduated. However, young William had other ideas and much to the chagrin of his Mother he decided to become an architect instead. His family didn't go a bundle either when he announced that he was going to marry a poor girl from Oxford called Jane Burden in 1859. Marry her he did though and as we know she went on to become his artistic muse, the mother of his children and further on down the line the lover of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Thank goodness for all our sakes that Morris was a man with such vision and no qualms about following that through into the highly successful Morris & Co. His drive and those of his fellow artists who worked alongside him have left us with a body of work which continues to influence interior design taste today. The single thing which always impresses me is that these leaders in the Arts and Crafts field didn't impose limits upon themselves about what they would make so the company was able to embrace many different areas within this sphere. Whilst there are hints of some of the successes of the women involved in this movement at the gallery. I hope that one day their contribution is brought into the light. Behind the famous men's names many of us are familiar with are equally talented women. Please do check out the work of Evelyn de Morgan or indeed Morris's own daughter  May if you're interested and this article has some other leads https://www.homesandantiques.com/antiques/the-forgotten-women-of-arts-and-crafts. The carnation fabric below was designed by Kate Faulkner for them in 1875 and she was the sister of Charles who was one of the company founders.

Rather than showing rafts of pictures of the familiar wallpapers I thought people might enjoy a small selection of the other goods that were made and sold to show the range available which you could have bought for your home back in the day. There are separate displays for the printing press side of the firm and Morris's political activism.

Should you ever find yourself in Walthamstow this place is another gem and free of charge. Did my friend enjoy herself? I am guessing so because she was talking about going back again before we'd even left!

Arilx