Unravelling and Rethreading

I can't speak for anyone else at the moment, but I seem to be at a strange crossroads where everything is unravelling politically, but many around me at a local level are forging new connections and building stronger community links to meet the challenge of Climate Change. Whilst the politicians bicker like children egos clashing and the media has a field day pouring over the day's events, I'm just getting on with upping the ante, being more proactive about our beautiful planet and finding my voice. This beautiful piece of writing by Julie Myers has inspired me.

"The old threads are unravelling. Get your needles ready. We are stitching a new quilt of humanity. Bring your old t-shirts, worn out jeans, scarves, antique gowns, aprons, old pockets of plenty who have held Earth's treasures, stones, feathers, leaves, love notes on paper. Each stitch a mindful meditation. Each piece of material a story. The more colour the better, so call in the tribes. Threads of browns, whites, reds. oranges. Women from all nations start stitching. Let's recycle the hate, the abuse, the fear, the judgement. Turn it over, wash it out, wring it out to dry. It's a revolution of recycled wears. Threads of green, blues, purples. Colourful threads of peace, kindness, respect, compassion are being stitched from one continent to the next over forests, oceans, mountains. The work is hard. Your fingers may bleed. But each cloth stitched together brings together a community. A world, our future world under one colourful quilt. The new quilt of humanity."

This coming Saturday we are extending the opening hours of the Repair Cafe into an afternoon session for clothes repairs/upcycling and in January we'll be holding our first clothes swap. It's fantastic being a part of a local initiative which has been so positively received and continues to steadily grow in popularity.

Arilx

The Devil's Chair

Mr GBT took a photo of this Tudor chair now housed in Michelham Priory back in 2014. At the time its malevolent looking carved arms intrigued me, but I didn't know anything further about it. Fast forward to 2018 and I've recently learnt that it's called the Devil's Chair and it came from Friston church originally. There is a surprisingly jovial devil carved onto the seat [didn't notice it back then, but this blog has it on http://ratbagp.blogspot.com/2012/07/michelham-priory.html], but it was truly believed that if you sat on it the devil would enter you through the chair. Whilst at one level it seems a comical idea, it was, I suspect, a truly terrifying prospect at the time.

Arilx

Frivolous Friday

In case you feel the need to stop what you're doing and practise your dance moves!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Arilx

Stoked

Pictures from our trip over to Bury have already been shared here this week, but as ever, we maximised our time and fuel and used it to drop into the now redundant church in the nearby hamlet of North Stoke, Sussex.

St Mary's has only had its dedication since 2006 when a letter from 1275 between the Bishop of Chichester and Edward I came to light referencing it. Nowadays it's in the hands of the Churches Conservation Trust.

Nestled at the foot of the Downs along a series of narrow winding lanes, it is largely untouched and retains its quiet ambience.

Pleasingly there are lots of little details remaining which could have been lost in any major refurbishments. These give a real sense of how vibrant the church would have once looked. Fragments of wall paintings and Medieval stained glass.

Is it a ram/sheep? We are in ovine countryside here. Certainly, a rather strange carving possibly brought in from elsewhere. Those in the know have said that sheep don't have upper teeth so it's possibly an early lion instead. The tiny hand depicted holding up the church arch reaches across the ages with its visual humour. I enjoyed being able to still smile at the mason's lighthearted joke.

More of those so called witch marks carved around the exterior of the door frame. It was important to keep those evil spirits at bay.

To close these two were my favourite. I have learnt through bitter experience to do a final recce of the church before I leave because of countless previous occasions when I've later found out that I've missed a treasure or three. It doesn't stop it from happening, but it has increased my batting average. These wall brackets looked pretty standard and not worth a second look really, but I checked underneath. Imagine my surprise when I found these two tiny monks peeking out at me! Lovely surprise.

Until next time.

Arilx

Down The Lane

There I was innocently trotting down Church Lane in Bury in pursuit of nothing more unusual than a spot of medieval graffiti in the church I had got wind of when I encountered this......

Some of the scariest topiary I've ever seen...look at the size of it for starters. I shared the photo above on my FB page....the jury is still out as to what the biggest creature is ...some say it's a penguin, but I'm with the one eared rabbit with the big bottom option.

Mr GBT gave me a wry look when I came across them, but hand on heart this time I had no idea they were there. Made me titter....it's a very well-to-do area so I'd love to know whether the neighbours are horrified or find them amusing!

Arilx

Who lives in a house like this?

I remember Loyd Grosman asking that familiar question in each episode of "Through the Keyhole" whilst snooping around some celebrity or other's pad. Now if I showed you these images what conclusion might you draw?

I expect it will come as no great surprise to find it's called "Gargoyles" and is to be found in the small Sussex village of Bury. The official line is that it was once the home of a stonemason who mounted the carvings to show off his work. However, when we ran into a villager she said that the word on the street is that they were stolen from nearby Arundel Castle. Which version do you prefer?! Personally I might not mind living in a house like this!

Arilx

The colour purple.

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday, so we decided to branch out and try a new dessert recipe. This is what we were aiming for with our ginger and blueberry cheesecake.

However, we decided to forgo the martini glasses [that'll be because we don't have any for starters] and make it in a single dish. Then the blueberry jam chose not to play ball...it wasn't swirling and twirling for anyone matey......this was our version.

An exact copy I'm sure you'll agree! It was worth the rather startling shade of violet just to see the brief look of surprise pass across our guests' faces as Mr GBT brought it through. Glad to say it tasted lovely and people had seconds. It's certainly the first time I've ever eaten a purple pud and I dare say it won't be my last.

Arilx