Friday Finery

As usual I am behind with editing, so the photos of the costumes at the V&A have yet to "materialise" [did you spot the rather heavily laboured pun there!!]. Hopefully I will get back to it next week. In the meantime I have gone and done the only sensible thing when you've got a backlog....go and take more photos! I like to try and record some of the transitory images on my home patch when I'm driving around and have a gap between clients! Yesterday I revisited The Sun Oak in Horsham [https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2018/05/beltane-2018.html]. He's now resplendent in all his Autumn foliage. I plan to capture him in the Spring and Summer too next year so I have the full set of seasonal shots.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Arilx

Gnashers and Jaws

The Bear is one of the pubs which sits slap bang in the middle of Horsham [at one time it was an area where people enjoyed the cruel "sport" of bear baiting]. It's namesake has sat above the sign for as long as I can remember other than when the odd passing lorry knocked it off. Thankfully the area has now been pedestrianised so it's safe these days.

Over time the poor old thing has rather suffered from the elements and a few months ago it was taken down to be restored. I've rather missed the old fellow, so was delighted to spot him back on his spot earlier this week. Those new teeth though have made chuckle...he rather looks like he's been given a set of those celebrity veneers!

As I turned round I spotted this new-to-me piece of graffiti....I couldn't but help wonder at the similarity!

Having shared these images on our town's FB group they have caused much mirth locally! Sometimes you need something to lighten the mood eh!

Arilx

Are you sitting comfortably?

Actually sitting comfortably would be the last thing you would be doing I would imagine if you were wearing any of these....it makes our control pants seem rather tame by comparision and at least we can choose whether we wish to squeeze our feet into winklepickers or vertiginously high heels these days. It's of little surprise that women often fainted, struggled to breathe and digest their food. In the quest for the perfect hourglass figure many suffered permanent damage to their ribcages. You really did become a fashion "victim" in all senses of the word!

Tomorrow I'll share a few images of the glorious apparel on show at the V & A.

Arilx

Going at full tilt.

I heard a chap on the TV recently say "There's no point tilting at windmills." At the time I wondered what on earth he meant. I intended to look it up, but as you know life moves on and it fell out of my head.

This week I've read a short article about a quintain in Offham. This is one of those posts which the knights on horseback [and other young men] would ride towards at breakneck speed whilst trying to knock one end of the crossbar with their lance point  upon which would have been mounted a shield or something similar as a target. It was not uncommon for the rider to be unseated as the other side whipped round.  Known as 'tilting the ring' it was both popular at the Medieval jousts and a good way of honing the fighting skills and building up the speed needed on the battlefield. The homeowners who live around the green in Offham have it written into their house deeds that they must maintain the quintain and yes I now understand why it would be totally futile to trying tilting at windmills!

Arilx

Medieval Design

From the pages of the Medieval Bestiary today we have a mantichore....lion's body with a human head and the tail of a scorpion or a dragon and...

A blemmyae. A headless human torso with the facial features embedded into the chest.

Being a little greedy I wouldn't have said no to a monopod either....a fellow with one single foot arching over his head which can be used for shade or an umbrella in the case of rain. However, I'm going to have to visit Dennington church to see one in situ. We might think of all these creatures as being very peculiar, but when you look at some of the real species in nature maybe they're not so really!

These marvellous examples were in the V & A when I was waiting for my former blogging buddy Lovely Grey on Saturday. She's keeping well.

Arils

Upbeat Friday

This one should wake you up! Megawatt by Celtica Rocks.

Have a good weekend one and all.

Arilx

A new find.

Dancing friends, who have recently joined the National Trust, made their first visit to Nymans garden last weekend. They were very enthusiastic by what they found. Personally I can't for the life of me see why you'd bother at this time of year....as the pictures from our latest visit attest😆

Now I'd be mighty pleased to have just one flying cow on my roof. But two winged beasts and an owl...now that's just plain greedy!

This Italian urn caught my eye because of the carvings on it which are similar in feel to some of the Norman ones I've found in churches from time to time. Being quite large I expect it's been there the whole time and I've just managed to walk past it oblivious on previous occasions!

Inside the house I've finally got around to photographing this rather splendid china frog. He's a Chinese earthquake detector. He's from the 18th century and would have been filled with stones. When he started rattling I guess you would have gathered up your coat tails and made a speedy exit!

Another lovely from the 18th century, but closer to home this time. This dress made in Spitalfields has the most exquisite detailing. It's on display as part of a current exhibition.

With this rather oversized boot scraper to finish. Either it was made for giants or the Messel family  had enormous plates of meat! We were quite tickled by just how ridiculously huge it was, but then we're short hobbits and everything looks rather large from our reduced height!

Everytime I go to Nymans I question the need to take my camera and every time I'm relieved that I have as it provides an ever changing palette of colours and developing projects for me to capture. My dancing friends have already pledged to make a series of visits over the changing seasons. Once it gets under your skin there it stays!

Arilx