When the universe has other plans.....

It seemed a crying shame to throw away the leftover scallop shells from our NYE supper, so we pondered what we could do with them. Quickly we both decided that they could feature in a hanging wind chime thingy for the garden and I quickly volunteered my modest stash of holey stones to accompany them. Mr GBT, being a making/repairing wizard, strung them up on some brass wire, but I still didn't feel it was quite finished somehow. Overnight the missing detail came to me and by the morning I added in the red ribbon [salvaged from Christmas crackers]. When I stood back from it I had to smile....every part of it also has an apotropaic element!

The scallop shell features heavily in Christianity and is the symbol of St James [it's littered along the route of the Camino de Santiago] who is the patron saint of pilgrims. If you see it on a tomb, then it signifies that the person has been on at least one pilgrimage. This example is Richard Cheltenham's and can be seen in Tewkesbury Abbey. 

In pre-Christian times it was used as a symbol of the setting sun. Together with the red which was used to deflect evil spirits/witches and those with malicious intent and the hagstones [more detail here http://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=hag+stones it seems like we all have bases covered should someone or something nefarious try and cross the threshold. I love it when the universe has other plans.......

Arilx

A spot of silliness

 

Have a good weekend!

Arilx

Round the houses

My old schoolfriend was down last week staying with her Mum [they're in a bubble] and so I needed to come up with a plan where we could catch up outside without needing to travel too far. Thankfully my Dad signposted a new series of local heritage walks that have been created by the town's museum staff [it hasn't reopened since March] and one of those turned out to be the perfect candidate.

Now with so much off limits it's not so easy to add in the usual level of detail when all you're basically doing is walking up and down both sides of a single long road for an hour, but I don't think we did too badly under the circumstances. This place looks like it's got some age to it with it gorgeous decorative barge boards. However, looks can be deceiving for above the door is the date 1932. It's built in the Tudorbethan style which was all the rage at the time. Some of the material used though has been salvaged from earlier buildings which does help to make it look older.

Go back a hundred years and this area would have been a mixture of farmland and a large country estate. It even had its own cricket pitch. The big house was demolished in the 1950s and all that remains is the lodge....still rather a lot larger than many of of its more modest modern neighbours though!

This grade II listed house genuinely is 17th century. It's called Dendy's after a local Dr Dendy lived there with his family. Tragically he and his family caught typhus and died after he'd carried out a post mortem on an executed prisoner from the town gaol in 1827. Nowadays it looks rather marooned stuck in the middle of a housing estate.

As we wandered up and down aimlessly looking for a mystery gatepost [we never did find it] I was rather pleased to see that somebody had decided leaving the utility boxes plain and boring just wouldn't do. I'm not sure that I've ever seen art inspired by takeaways before though.....

And to finish...pray what is a good walk, but without a bit of weirdery.....a fairy door and occupants. It really isn't my friend's sort of thing, but she humoured me nevertheless! 🧚 I know that I've shown this before, but the fairy has gained a friend since my last visit a couple of years ago.

A most splendid way to spend a morning.....this was pre Lockdown.

Arilx

The Garden Guardian

 Well it might not be possible to physically do much in the garden planting wise right now, but indoor scheming is afoot. We talked over ideas a few weeks ago and how we could achieve a wildlife friendly plot with our postage sized piece of turf and the solution seems to be seasonal shrubs that are attractive to the pollinators and birds with a few hardy perennials thrown in any remaining gaps....in essence we've gone for indestructible [hopefully] ones with attractive flowers and berries. It turns out Mr GBT has been quietly beavering away and so was able to present me with a list of possibilities  at the beginning of the recent break. If we can get them I think we're in for a treat and it will be nice to be able to have something to show for some money we were recently given for our little project.

Meanwhile the tiles on the planters are now on [we'll continue to grow veggies in them] and he's just converted the redundant peanut feeder into a suet pellet one...they're fussy little beggars our local avian friends. We're now flavour of the month with the visiting nuthatch and starlings.

Do please come and meet Derek....he's our new garden guardian and is to be found hanging off the fence and supervising our progress. He was one of my Christmas pressies from Mr GBT.  I am intending to move in some of his friends just as soon as I can get somewhere that stocks ones that I like. Am rather fussy when it comes to my grotesques....nowt cutesy thanks.

We now have 6 big bags of compost sitting and awaiting our attention. Ooh the thrills I have awaiting me in this latest period of restrictions😜

13th century wisdom

"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder."

Rumi [1207-1273]

Arilx 

Leeking Roof

A couple of my folkloric books have touched upon the subject of the deliberate planting of houseleeks on roofs, but never in a million years did I expect to see an actual example on my local patch. The belief was that they would protect you and your house from lightning strikes and witches.

Arilx

The first day of 2021

Mr GBT and I have enjoyed doing what we do best today.....quietly chatting through plans and scheming. In between this we undertook a mammoth cooking session. He had a sudden urge to see if he could cook a fruit bread in the slow cooker....by nature he's much more adventurous than I am in the kitchen so with a bit of tinkering he's come up with a very moreish loaf. I, meanwhile, was chasing up every leftover, lurker and community fridge bit of food I could find and get it all processed whilst the oven was on. Mission accomplished I am pleased to say.

In between whiles we have headed out for a local stroll to another nearby village [Broadbridge Heath].....muchly grateful for new Aril type things jumping out and badgering me for attention all the way round.

I've noticed this rusty pick-up a few times when I've driven past on my way back from work, but this was the first time I'd had the opportunity to get a proper look at it...turns out that's not just corrosion I'm looking at, but a proper effect that you pay good money for! Shows how little I know. As for the Reliant Robin.....I hadn't seen one of those in years. They seemed to be everywhere when I was a kid in the 1970s.

This is St John's. The shape is most unusual and is based on the "tent of meetings" from the Old Testament apparently. It was designed by James Ralph and consecrated in 1963.

Being on foot allows me to subtly sticky beak at people's houses. These are today's offerings. The beautiful handpainted flowers were on a fence and part of one of the NHS/rainbow artworks from last Spring. As for "Mildew" cottage....all I can say is that it makes a change from Rose Cottage I suppose....I would so love to find out if there's a good story that goes with it!

The only berry that can truly call itself purple as far as I'm concerned.....Callicarpa.

To finish up we walked a new bit where a parade of shops has gone in as part of one of the latest housing estates round us. This new piece of public artwork is by Tim Nash and is called "Bridges". The underside of each arch has a series of favourite photos chosen by the residents which show the history of the area.

A most excellent start to this year's walking adventures.

Arilx