Arundel- The Girly Shots

I'm not all about dark Morris Dancing, Steampunk, black flowers, Gothic horror you know. I'm just as attracted to the pretties aswell- I am a true Libran and like everything in balance so here's the other set of photos I took on my recent day out with E to Arundel!

Technically it's little more that a picturesque village but because it has the castle [owned by the Duke of Norfolk] and the RC cathedral it's a crowd puller. It's very hilly but on the plus side it has loads of charming tearooms in which to quench your thirst and rest your weary legs! As a local I'd say well worth visiting out of the main tourist season.

Arilx

The Business of Busyness.

After a hectic week of work and other commitments bookended by two busy weekends I'm stepping off the hamster wheel for a few hours today. This particular piece of music whenever I hear it always puts me right in the zone. It allows me to stop, listen and breathe deeply.

Stabat Mater by Pergolesi sung sublimely by Emma Kirkby.

Arilx

The Snowdrop.

Life is full of seemingly unrelated little incidents but sometimes I find they seem to randomly collide within a very short space of time to form a coherent whole. One such example has occurred over the last couple of days.

Saturday saw me out dancing with Mythago once again. This time we were in Lewes which is a new gig for me [I danced at the Harvey's Brewery last Autumn].  Our first stand was scheduled for The Snowdrop which is at the far end of the town right beneath the cliffs. I had assumed that the pub was named after the flower and had given it no further thought until Friday when, unusually, my client's husband was still home. He used to live in Lewes and he asked me if I knew how the pub got its name.

Sensing a story he told me about the Lewes Avalanche.  Despite prior warnings about the increasing danger about the weather conditions the inhabitants of the workers cottages in Boulders Row decided not to heed them. On 27th December 1836 tragically eight people lost their lives. The youngest survivor was a little girl called Fanny Boakes whose white dress that she was wearing at the time is now on display in Anne of Cleves House. The pub is built on the site of the cottages.

Chatting about this discovery with a fellow dancer she was able to add another footnote. We perform a dance called Triskele which, when we danced it at the Harveys Brewery last year, was recognised by the original composer [we had got his permission many years ago but with all the changes in the side over the years the original information had been lost and we no longer knew who had written it]. He came up to us afterwards and said how much he had enjoyed both what we'd done with it muscially and the dance. He very kindly endorsed our continued use of it. His version of the music is performed by the band he's in who are called Touchstone. They are a fabulous local folkband who have written many songs about historical events in Sussex. I've had a couple of their CDs for years. And their song for which this tune was written? "The Night The Snow Came Down" and it's all about Fanny Boakes. This track is so familiar to me yet I had never thought to find out what it was about. Small, small world. Let me leave you with a recording of it.

Arilx

I Spy....

With my little eye curiosities in Arundel. Chum E informs me that one of the reasons that she enjoys a jolly with me [apart from the copious quantities of tea we drink and the non stop chatter we manage] is that I will either spot something unusual or know something weird. I'll take that as a compliment- anything important falls of out my head within a split second but any useless bit of information is hardwired in for eternity. So not to disappoint here's more of my most recent Spotteds!

Doors- yes I find doors endlessly fascinating. Ones with windows, a gorgeous painted door [bugger about the shadows but mustn't grumble], the promise of Horror and knockers [oo er missus] what the hell is that one all about. A yeti and a hand...hmm an interesting conceptual design!!

A goodly spot of Gothic planting. Black blooms just do it for me- such a refreshing change from the norm.

One rather grumpy dragon- bears more than a passing resemblance to me first thing in the morning before I've got any caffeine in my system or when I'm hollering at the teenager.

Non twee house names- I so wanted to knock on the homeowners door and ask why they chose these particular ones.

And to finish my first ever wooden castle. Just because!

I'll put the "prettier" ones up separately.
Arilx

Reflections.

"Look up there" said my friend E. I did and this is what I saw. I would have missed these had I been on my own. Thanks E.

Hope you have a peaceful and fulfilling day today.

Arilx

The Lewes Group

St Botolph's, Hardham, West Sussex is a small late Saxon church. Whitewashed, it is charming in its apparent simplicity yet it hides an amazing interior. It has one of the best preserved set of medieval frescoes in the country and apart from the 19th century damage, these are pretty much complete. It forms part of the so called Lewes Group because it is believed that four churches in total were painted by a single group of travelling artists and this one, along with one of the others, probably belonged to the Cluniac priory of St Pancras at Lewes. I fully intend to get along to visit the other ones in the series in due course. I have visited before, but this was a spur of the moment decision when I was out with my chum E and we just pulled off the road to give her a chance to enjoy them when we were en route elsewhere last week.

Here are a few shots for you to enjoy [that's not a command by the way!]

This is dear old St George on one of the crusades.

And Adam and Eve. How fab are they- definitely my favourite. They apparently mark a move away from earlier styles as they are less realistic with their elongated bodies and small heads.

Arilx

New Challenge

I touched on this briefly last week. Unusually for me I have raised my head above the parapet at Gnat Bottomed Towers and joined the No New Clothes Challenge For A Year being run by Jen Gale over at Make Do and Mend. This is quite rare for me as by and large I don't engage in the activities of other bloggers. I just keep writing my eccentric little bloglet and ploughing my own furrow. Very much like me in real life really- I am definitely one for standing on the sidelines rather than being centre stage.

During September I bought a few bits and pieces from a couple of charity shops to replace basics that were beyond repair. Another scarf might have snuck in [believe you me I have many] but that was 13th September and the intention [famous last words] is to not buy anything save for underwear or exercise kit until this time next year [only if I need them though]. I have already been tempted by a green scarf but when I worked out why it turns out I already have a necklace in the same colourway. I've been lucky to win a bag of long sleeved tops on freecycle which will be fine for working in and it won't matter if they get bleach spots on them. Beyond that we've all set our own rules and mine are that if I'm offered anything then I won't say no [a friend and I have often passed things over to each other as we're a similar size with overlapping taste] and I'm going to have a modest attempt to see if I can change anything I have that I don't currently wear. Don't expect miracles- I am no tailoress!

This is my first attempt- the jumper was given to my by said chum after her daughter no longer wanted it. I've been moving it around my drawers for a few months and I had put it out into the charity bag. However, I hoicked it out again and stitched the buttons on it which were given to me by a client a few weeks ago. I rather like it now even if it did take me several attempts to get the flaming buttons on evenly.

'Tis a start and I shall be interested to see if I learn anything along the way.

Arilx