Monster Plants

In this instance the hogweed - Cow Parsnip Heracleum sphondylium.  The Daily Mail has horrible photos of what this plant has done to a poor girl in Scotland, who touched it and who's hands became covered in blisters.  Well I'm not here to defend the plant, but please leave it in the countryside, it has been here a helluva long time, and definitely does not have a 'Triffid' habit of movement!

Think the above photos are it but not sure, there are many 'cow parsleys' the stem is supposed to be very square, but I notice the above does not have the tell tale darker marking.  Grigson does not even mention it's poisonous role, and says that it was fed to pigs hence the name.  In fact the villagers were still bringing home bundles of the plant to feed their pigs in his time. 

The equivalent in the garden is blue rue, which used to have the same affect on me, the milky sap when you cut the plant touched the skin, and then later on the sun would bring up blisters.  It was a pretty plant, but my daughter ordered it to be cut down because of young Tom.

Consulting Marjorie Blamey and she says of the Giant Hogweed - Heracleum Mantegazzianum that the juice of this plant is photo-sensitive in sunlight and can cause serious blisters.  Of course this is a Victorian introduction to the garden, and has since 'escaped into the wild', a bit like the Japanese Knotweed. So this is the one the little girl presumably touched.

The Bells, the bells

New Header; how can one resist sweet peas? bought at the Malton Food Fare, along with a couple of manky pies, sorry to the cook but a bit more flavour please and organic eggs would not have gone amiss.

Yesterday, we went to a small garden centre in Kirkbymoorside, she had a fabulous range of plants, and now some wait for the rain to stop so that I can plant them in the garden!  But there was also an antique shop/shed there, a cornucopia of furniture and bric a brac.  Very expensive was my first reaction, the old chairs started at £400, and most of the furniture was around the £700.  Loads of prints on the wall though and we both spied this old oil painting tucked away in the corner and fell in love with it.  It is not in good condition, the canvas is splitting where  black paint has been applied. The subtleties of the paintwork has worn with time and somehow seems to have given it greater credence, it has an illegible signature but a date of 1803. LS is already looking up a picture framer for it.  It reminded me of The Foss, which is a waterfall deep in some woods with an old house by it.

And the church bells rang out yesterday, not as melodiously as I would have liked, but LS was enraptured by them, he has really fallen in love with this place, and even talks of bell ringing himself! A rather crummy video below, the swallows that fly in and out of three nests under the eaves feeding their young were curiously absent through the bells, wonder why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tmBXRF5tnU&feature=youtu.be

Edit;  On closer inspection with a magnifying glass, the painting is revealed as a very clever fake...
a very fine print on top of an old canvas, with paint, or animal glue LS thinks, to give the impression of thick strokes.  As we got it cheaply, no harm is done and we still love it, but no more expense on it!

Improved Animals

Improved animals, when walking around a gallery sometimes you come unexpectedly on an 18th century portrait of a grotesque pig or cow,  extolling the virtues of  of their fat for eating I presume, these first illustrations show genetic engineering of which we are all aware of nowadays. Actually delving round pictures reveals that such paintings are very rare, once bought the owners keep them according to a Bonham catalogue.

Well that was not what I was going to talk about, but the strange religious practice of  of early Iron Age Durotrige people in Dorset.  Weird animal burials, where the bones of cow, horse and dog were mixed up together to produce what?  The Independent calls them 'Hybrid Animal Monster Myths'

but journalism of course does like to go down darker pathways, interesting though, wonder where all those gargoyles and strange animals on churches originated from, is there some weird religious 'meme' that somehow has to distort the real world into monsters.  

Celtic Art is becoming fashionable again though, and the British Museum is putting on a show which will move to Edinburgh next year.  But for a taste of what there is, and thanks to John Hooker (Past and Present Tensions) for this the Daily Mail has done a splendid article on it.

And now to things nearer home: We went a walk yesterday, along the fields at the back of the house, really to find out how the river behaved and if it did flood! Well it would have to rise about 15 feet to do such a thing, so unless the waters coming rushing off the moors over winter we will see.  A somewhat disappointing, dark ribbon of water hemmed in by tall weeds of nettles, policeman's helmet which had gone over and the giant 'rhubarb' leaf of gunnera.  We did see a flash of blue so kingfishers might haunt this stretch.  On the far side of the river is an embankment (bund a word I much prefer) that stretches for miles, I presume to protect the fields.

We also went to Malton Food Market, pretty place the centre of the town but the food market was disappointing, too much meat, pies and cakes.......

River Seven

Looking over the fields

The farm with the 'bund' in the front

the 'bund' stretching back

Malton food market

10th July

The internet connection here in the village is definitely not 100%, we spend time retuning the modem

and then it still plays up, could be because we are at the end of the BT connection here or that we need a new modem.  

Tiredness has set in, yesterday we started to set up the bookcases in the downstair room, (which we call the shared study) there is still two more bookcases to be taken apart and brought upstairs.  Today we once again take a car full of cardboard to the recycling centre, and then various shopping in Whitby, and coffee in Sherlocks.

You can see why it is called Sherlocks, the wooden panelling is everywhere, but they make the best 'house' coffee.

I have been encouraging the local birds, rather thin on the ground when we first came, beautiful  song thrush and its young, coal tits, blue tits, and a white headed blackbird.  Also one of my favourites, though I expect others will not agree, this is the jackdaw, sleek grey necked bird is feeding her three youngsters.

We had them in Bath, clever creatures, I would rescue their young as they flew down from the chimneys where they had been nesting, many times they would land on the ground without being able to fly up.  I once picked one of these young on a long branch, and put it on some trellising, the parents came swooping down telling me no, no and swooping to the old holly tree.  So I moved the babe to the tree and the garden returned quietly to its former self.

The crow family has a history of persecution and death, I suppose from the earliest times through the Celtic period when it became revered, it was to be found on the battlefield helping itself to the remains.  They are such a motley crowd, I have even witnessed a crow 'parliament' when lines of crows gathered on the railings on the Bath racecourse, scary but exhilarating.

Back at 4 0 clock; some photos of the lane we travel along from Pickering, tall parsley flowers, with meadowsweet all along the verges and of course the undertow at the moment is the beautiful blue cranesbill. The weather was perfect.

The old railway line Pickering to Malton

nostalgia

Must iron some curtains before they become dry so few words, but on passing through the news this morning came upon this link, which will take you to 20th British films on the changing  social landscape of Britain.

You just have to search for the town/village you are interested in and up comes a real OLD look at how Britain was. 

Pat (Weaver of Grass) will love this one, it is about Wolverhampton, the 'Black Country' from where we both come, and has school children doing a historical tour round the town.  They first visit St.Peter's church, which bought back the memory of when Louise our Italian 'maid' got married there to a Polish man, and for the first time I saw Polish dancing, and sucked those hard sweets with an almond in the middle.

Louise looked after my brother and me, as our stepmother never seemed to be there, and I always remember her climbing the old large pear and apple trees in the garden, and collecting the fruit in a large yellow basket, the apples would be stored along the shelves in the cellar, giving this dark place a sweet smell of slightly rotting fruit.  The other memory of her is when we came back from a holiday when she was married, she had looked after my collie puppy at the time, and her first words "he s***, s*** everywhere".  Sadly it was distemper, and the puppy died, my first big heartbreak!

6th July

Today is the day of the plumber and the water cylinder being replaced, he has already started to drain the old cylinder, no water of course but we have enough for coffee, etc.  Read Alan Smith's book last night, followed him round the village and his first job as a farm labourer at Riseborough Hall, which sadly burnt down whilst he was there. Can you remember the 'basket meals', scampi was the 'in food' to eat then with chips - a real night out!  He talks of Babycham, not something I ever drank always though it was alcohol free but apparently it could leave you very drunk after a few bottles.

Riseborough Hall burnt down in 1952

A history of Riseborough Hall can be found here  It has its full quota of stories, from leylines to Romans, this of course because we near to Cawthorne Roman Camps.  B was  talking of sulphur springs here as well, the water comes up yellow I think, apparently there is a straight line between here and another town of sulphur springs, a good leyline in the making....

I am slowly collecting links of the more archaeological history round here, Pastscape for one has revealed finds from the Neolithic, through to the Iron Age, no Roman though.  The church has some interesting coffin lids which I shall go and photo sometime today.  British History Online talks of them.  And another site, for which you have to pay £30 annually has mention of the sites in this area. There is mention of Roman stone at Riseborough Hall, but that could be fanciful.

to be cont.....

5th July

Yesterday was a busy day, the 'curtain' lady came in the morning and we spent a long time chattering, now I have to unpick the lining from four very large curtains, so that the curtains can be dry cleaned and relined and cut to fit the two windows in the sitting room.  We have decided on a sheer voile blind for the window that overlooks the churchyard, just for some privacy now and then.

Yesterday there was a strawberry cream tea inside the church so we met all the people we have already met, plus more.  I am not a good chatterer, being very shy, also when there are a lot of people talking I seem to be following several threads at once which results in complete confusion in my brain!

I shall refer to people by their initials, just in case they stumble on my blog, but P an elderly gentlemen was there, he seems to be in charge of the church and rather lonely as his wife died several years ago.  We met J's husband, she of the pony and trap, and a great talker, think I will get on with her as we both have that direct way of looking at things...  People are so friendly that it becomes overwhelming and one needs to go and sit in a quiet place for a bit. Our historian was there B, who talked non-stop.  looked out of the window in the evening only to see him chattering with LS.  He had brought a book written by the previous landlord of the pub A.  Funnily enough (this is a small place) we had met both of them at the pub, when we had gone over for something to eat, and A wanted to talk about his family who had run the pub for near on 100 years.
They wanted a place , a bit like a museum, to store the old things that had slowly tumbled down through the years from the village; the bell that lies, somewhat forgotten, in the river, and can only be seen when the river is low.
So many stories unfold from people, the white railings near the stone bridge, were put there after an old man many years ago, stumbling away from the pub  was found a month later dead in the river.
the old gate from the church closed off by the 'new' people who owned the field and a source of great grumbling by the locals....

And now let me introduce you to an extinct glyph, did not have a very long history, does not appear on our keyboard but for my way of thinking could fulfil a role in the middle of a sentence quite easily.......

The now-extinct glyph was created and patented in Canada by three American inventors in 1992, and true to its name, it was designed to both look and act like the lovechild of the incredibly utilitarian comma and the equally hated and adored exclamation point.

Bits and pieces

This is just bits and bobs and reflects my 'magpie' mind.  Yesterday we had to wait around for the water cylinder to arrive just a day later after the rep's visit, prompt round here as far as service is concerned and now it sits in sedate silence in the garage waiting for the plumber on Monday.

We have an awful lot of cardboard and packing materials to get rid off, and for this we go to Whitby's excellent clean and tidy recycling centre, that had been our plan for the day, so somewhat late we set off.  Also of course to visit the cottage and see that it was still upstanding, 'ear wigging' a loud estate agent in Anne's cottage at the farther end and she seems to be selling it, so a small change in our little yard.

Whitby has Sainsbury and Homebase, only recently opened and we picked up some ordered lights there.  Whitby itself is full of tourists as you would expect at this time of the year, and as I do not lug my camera around on humdrum visits, no photos.

On the way back we stopped at my favourite nursery place by the river Esk, they have all the old fashioned flowers I love.  Herbs were my first thought, we needed a rosemary shrub and a couple of others, a scented geranium caught my eye and Japanese anemones, bought two of the white ones as I love their graceful flowers.

As I sat and drank my tea on the sofa yesterday looking out on to the graveyard, I noticed a gravestone with the name Hugill, my mind immediately went to Huginn (thought) and Munnin (memory) the two ravens that sit on Odin's shoulder, not quite the same but obviously a Norse sounding name, so this morning I looked up Hugill, it is a 'habitation' name, meaning it came from the place where the people lived.

"Hugill has a long Anglo-Saxon history.  The name comes from when the family lived in Howgill or Hugill. Howgill is in Sedburgh, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.  Hugill is also in Westmorland (now part of Cumbria).  The names have a common origin however.  They are based on the old Norse word haugrgeil which means barrow (hill) in a ravine"

What else, I noticed in the news that there is a certain amount of stealing going on of stone in Yorkshire, also sadly old Anglo-Saxon stones from churches, many churches of course  leave their doors open.  Obviously such stone taken has to be portable to some degree, but this stealing of both modern and old stone, rather than buying it is of course criminal.

A more generalised report from the Observer 

Naming flowers

Today has been a somewhat scrappy day, the internet did not kick in till 9.0.clock this morning, apparently it takes about 10 days to settle.  So I photographed the plants in the long bed, most I can recognise from their general form, but the three centre ones never seen before.  The plumber has been today with the rep for our hot water cylinder.  A rather elaborate one from Norway, which has been leaking, it seems it has to be replaced because the pressure has gone, still under warranty if we can find the right paperwork....

The plumber, Mr.Johnston helped right the enormous table we had put together yesterday, 8 chairs to go around, and our dining area is fixed...  Perhaps what pleases me most is that my bookcase is stacked, and that I found the  missing mugs amongst my patchwork baskets for safe keeping.

Cranesbill or perennial geranium

Unknown

similar dissected leaf; unknown... cranesbill?

this cup shaped flower is a rockery plant I think

flocks which need watering

a grown up 'London Pride' plant

??like a blue verbascum with long strappy leaves

1st July

The weather is glorious, deep blue skies, the occasional high white clouds, and swallows swoop gracefully everywhere.  We are settled in amongst boxes, problems slowly solving.  The first was no reception with our mobiles, meaning that we had to drive to Pickering to talk to people. But on Monday an Openreach van stood outside and he sorted our landline and of course the internet clicked in and seems to be working very quickly.

We needed a landline, bedroom furniture ordered and paid for, could not be delivered until we could phone from the house, this to do with LS ordering from the old Chelmsford address, he had not changed his credit details from the old house as well.  Today we have a new large table delivered for seating the family around, who of course came on Sunday to see us, and we wandered round the village, Lillie inevitably stepping in some dog poo, and making a terrible fuss.

Everyone is friendly, I could mention someone called Jo who has a pony and trap, her husband has been haymaking in the fields over the road, as, has every other farmer in the district, and a truer saying 'making hay while the sun shines' could not be more apt.

The removal men came up the same day as they loaded, and slept outside in their van which had bunk beds somewhere.  We on the other hand stopped off at this rather pretty inn, on the 'Great North Road' as its landlord called it.  Weirdly the stone at this place was very similar to Cotswold, a pretty honey colour.

Their is a cockerel over the road, who does not wake too early, but has just woken up and proclaims his ownership of the world.  Hens, sheep and in the far distance cows moo gently so it is very bucolic.

Spoken to quite a few people, the 'history man' wandered past yesterday and we have been invited to the Strawberry tea at the church on Saturday.

One of the reasons for moving to this house is the church next door, quiet neighbours....

Slumbering gently in the evening sun

This beautiful wall will need careful thought as to planting

The old coke house for the church

22nd June - what a kerfuffle

Penultimate day; Still stuffing odds and ends in boxes.  Some time of today is devoted to ordering some bedroom furniture and finding out delivery, of course that means music for half an hour and an automated voice, banes of our modern world.  Then of course the new large dining table that has also been ordered as well, been trogging around with the wax in my handbag for the last few days - table to be waxed immediately so said the man at the shop.  We have no bedroom furniture for the new house, it was all fitted here, but we have two joiners in the village for building fitted wardrobes at some stage.  Then there is the unplugging of phones, two routers for separate companies, and that means internet connection will be cut off soon.  BT arranged the other end for two weeks time, broadband is slower up there, but better than Newton-on-Rawcliffe village where you had to go through 'Billie the radio'.  My constant companion is a notebook as I record dates.

All very scary   :-) but it will be over soon.....

Closing down for a few days ;-)

'Eagle flew out of the Night'

A Happy Solstice day to everyone, I suspect the people will not see the sun rise at Stonehenge, as the weather is dull and damp at the moment, but the occasion must have been exciting with wildly dressed druids and maybe even shamans.  The primitive urge to go back to our ancestor 'religion' which of course we know nothing of is as strong today as ever.  In Scandinavia they decorate their houses with branches and wild flowers and have great fires outside to celebrate their longest day.

I shall listen to Peter Gabriel and Solsbury Hill, which is such a happy tune, and I think of the eagle 'that has come to take him home' he mentions flying aloft over Bath.  People have asked me in the past whether there are eagles there, the answer is sadly no - just imagine them say I. 

Today I learnt that the National animal emblem of Scotland is the Unicorn, it was mentioned in the 12th century, fancy that, the magical white unicorn prancing across those verdant plains and rocky mountains of Scotland.

But to return to Solsbury Hill, a steep long walk up the lane out of the village of Northend, you can drive your car to the top, but there are really only two parking places, so it is best to walk and take in the verge flowers.  The hill is classified as an Iron Age hillfort but was not occupied for that long, you can wander around it easily.  There are two great stones sticking horizontally out of one of the ramparts, and it is said that the farmers could measure their plough runs by them.  On one corner of the inner space, is a maze, created many years ago, when the A36 (or was it the A46) was enlarged and protestors camped in the trees to stop it, of course it went through in the end.

Moss and I once walked up on Good Friday, though I course did not realise the day, lots of people were trudging up the lane and ahead a gold cross was carried, penny dropped, and I talked to one or two of them.  Friendly, pleasant people, there am I a true secularist, questioning this odd ritualistic act of going to the top of a 'pagan' hillfort to remember the hanging of a man, who apparently died for 'our sins' and I won't go there in case I offend.  But in truth these people did it every year, it was a celebration just like Solstice day, there was food and children running round at the top and everyone enjoying themselves.

I am writing early, basically because the last three nights we get up anytime between 3 and 4 in the morning, I've been around a long time today, and though my work is finished LS is still packing stuff in the studio.

And a last thought, the protestors of the road above, were echoed by protesters for the new Newbury Road in 2010, and as a recorder of such things, this moving video of the 'Wild Horses of Newbury' perhaps reflects something of the battles that have been fought, and of course the anti-austerity protest march in London and elsewhere that took place yesterday, a good sign that people still fight for what they believe in.

The afternoon

The day moves slowly, I am wandering around like a lost cat, we are down to 90% of stuff packed, the above painting which is about 6 foot by 6 foot has just been wrapped, last painting to be packed in bubble stuff.  It is a very calming painting, can almost hear the swish of water as the carp swim round.  In actual fact it will have some work done soon, it is to be framed, and a crease line smoothed out,  photos never quites gets it gold 'sprinkle' colour.  How these symbolic carp/dragons and goldfish are part of the tradition of Japan and China.

A short break in between writing and holding down bubble wrap, the bike has gone! pleased about that, two men, one the father of the younger one, took it way and that was that. Another burden melted into the world, I gave it away, though new, because I hate hassle over money and very rarely go down that path anyway,  LS of course keeps his, also only ridden once...

Blogland

I have a few moments, waiting for stuff to fill the three half full boxes.  So I shall allow myself a ramble around the blogs.  In actual fact the personal blog is an anomaly that has only developed over the last few years, you may call it a 'stream of consciousness', except that it is best not to hurt others.

My blog list reveals ordinary people just chattering away, filling in their lives, being happy with the things around them.  There are the occasional blog that seems to be written in a stratosphere far removed from one's own life, I call it 'The Laura Ashley conundrum', which seems to live in a refined Western culture world, without taking heed that the majority of the people worldwide are poverty stricken.  Now I don't think we can do much about that except consume less and also I won't use the word 'class' in the hope that such things as that will die a decent death.

There is a distinct difference between male and female writing, stating the obvious of course, men are better raconteurs, whereas women fill in the detail.  The younger you are, what becomes obvious the more emotion is expressed and that is where trouble starts.  I belong to forums, where the young males give way  to strong language, I am never quite sure whether in their raving for better justice in the world is for themselves or for the people around us.  Of course there is terrible social injustice and inequality in this country, but no matter how much we yell it will continue, the only way to create a perfect world is to turn to a strict, probably state of communism, which will definitely not be agreeable to all.  I have always believed in what I call the 'balance of state', a yin/yang compromise, on Earth it is called homeostasis.  

Being the target of abuse several years ago was upsetting, but the only thing that I learnt was to stick in there and ignore, their nasty problem it belonged to them not to me.  I learnt to become neutral in my language, and I believe that the best way is to become less subjective in argument and just address the subject of the argument without rancour.

Back to work listening to my favourite bird...

And it's Friday

Two thirds through of packing, LS's studio was the worst, though he did all of it, notice some things should still go into boxes.  I cleared all the kitchen cupboards yesterday, produced some problems
when it came to cooking the meal later on! No rolling pin, used a beer can, no grater, chopped very finely.

But the cupboards are empty, when sorting through cupboards you learn to throw away, and so two car loads of stuff down to the recycling place.  Also, my second going over the shed has reduced enormously heavy things; stuck a sign to the gate 'new bike going free' no takers yet.. Book boxes are very heavy, feeling sorry for the removal men already 

need boxing

Square boxes hide the fact that a lot of the stuff was round, heavy, awkwardly shaped

Again, because our neighbour Keith is away for a few days have to water his garden, so I have sorted out some large pots for the tomato plants he is growing, hopefully he will take them.  Our other neighbour who is also a Keith (we call them major and minor), goes away with his wife to Spain for 6 winter months of the year in their enormous motorhome,  LS usually keeps an eye on their house. The new people who are buying this house, from London, should be able to integrate, they are very quiet, and have friends and relatives around here.

The 'exchange of contracts' came on Wednesday afternoon as I was talking to my daughter so she got to be part of the news, she is now already talking about meeting in York for shopping days, she must have forgotten my hatred of shopping.  But it will probably be easier to catch the train at Malton to York then take the car, York is such a central hub for trains, and it is very easy for her to, as she always uses trains.

16th June

Waiting for boxes to be delivered, the contents of the cupboard and wardrobes lay sprawled on the bed in anticipation... Notice Japanese snow shoes are going to be thrown away (is that all?) but little else at the moment.  Had a 'stream of consciousness' from my daughter on F/B this morning, she seems really excited about our move up and it was lovely to read her comments, I am blessed ;)

LS says reading my blog gives him a deeper insight as to what I'm thinking, so here goes, it DOES NOT HURT to throw away stuff if you are not ever going to use it in the future, let alone store it in the next loft.

I think I shall talk chickens, want some 'blue pekin' bantams, friendly and pretty they are great companions in the garden, though in reality should go for a large breed for the bigger eggs.  I remember my pair with great affection pottering around the garden, squawking should our urban fox be round, though he eventually got them in the end.  

We are moving........................

Well it is all on, sitting drinking our coffee at ten, the phone rings, exchange of contracts today, (edit; not quite, in two days time) we are to be out on the 23rd at 2.0.clock.  We sit there rather breathless looking at each other, no going back now!  I have just boxed all my old books, wondering if I should have been more savage in my culling, too late now.

Weekend was spent in a low key mode, wondering whether Michael's (our solicitor) sharply worded email to the other solicitor would work, of course it did.  I like Michael, a laid back Whitby solicitor, who will chatter for a long time, me worrying about whether we have to pay a couple of hundred pounds an hour for niceties. He already holds the deeds to the cottage for that business when it gets to be sold again, a nice business acuity  When we first started LS was phoned up by one of those hybridised firm of solicitors, they act like call centres, 'no' he said firmly, 'I want someone I know'......

We are moving into an area we already know, Whitby with it's new Sainsbury/Homebase, the local recycling (so useful), and Pickering with its Lidl and Co-op.  The Yorkshire countryside so different from this southern busyness, will be much cooler I expect, must knit LS some more jumpers.  There are shops that we like in Whitby, Boyes where you can get everything and the kitchen sink, Yorkshire Trading has also the same benefit, a lot of tat on offer of course, and then there is Botham's the baker, supplier of bread, savouries and chocolate cake of course.

Restaurants come and go in Whitby, The Magpie, famed for its fish and chips always stays, though you can get plenty of other fish dishes there.  LS of course loves pubs, we go to the Jolly Sailor there for its cheap beer but the cottage is surrounded by pubs, though strangely when you live in a yard the sounds of the streets do not penetrate, unless they walk by the entrance to the yard.

14th June

Dyes

Love the detail in this photo, and the way the old lady draws the fibre so finely.

This is an old blog about Japanese dyes, LS has carefully collected and stored all these dyes in their boxes, presumably for a museum, but I also dabble in dyeing, though haven't been able to do anything this year with all this moving saga.  I also spin so it was this photo that captured my imagination of a woman spinning on an Indian Chahkra wheel, she is spinning silk, and I have some silk to spin at the moment.  When you dye silk the colour is much stronger and more vibrant than on wool, I use acid dyes mordanting with white vinegar, but you can mess around with other mordants, though alum for plant dyeing is to be preferred.   My wheel is the traditional Australian Ashford, a simple wheel but a good work horse.

What bought this to mind, was a photo found in one of the  folders of a large painting that had azurite/Gunjo mineral in its colouring and also pearl/shinju dust if I remember correctly.  It is not a very good photo, and the painting it went to auction somewhere in Europe, having arrived from Australia.  What I remember most was a computer person coming to read the special marks of the school/painters; he used a special programme to read  the almost invisible stamped marks.

And an earlier blog show the Tamamushi Beetle which can also be found in LS's boxes of wonder....

13th June

Birthdays

And now to something different, something I hardly write about, being a 'granny'.  They give me great pleasure my grand children, each so different, especially in their growing up.   Today is Lillie's birthday, will she be the hippy of the family I wonder, she wanders along in her own world, dressed  always in  flamboyant colours . She will not conform, adores chocolate cake, spends hours eating her meals often alone because the family will desert her in exasperation as she idly plays with her food, you cannot change her there is a stubborn streak there.

When she was little she bossed her older brother round really badly, and he took it with a gentle humour, she would order him out of the room sometimes, or to sit next to her in the car so that she could fall asleep on his shoulder.  'Go away Tom, I don't like you' would easily fall from her lips, but in reality as she grew she adored Tom, and one of the nice things on Facebook is to see Tom's avatar, she has just rushed to hug him on a return from Uni - their kinship is sealed.

One of my favourite photos when they were little was of them playing miniature golf at Ruswarp, she stands there so little and yet she is  desperately trying to be part of the older children's gang.

So happy 9th birthday Lillie, all of you grow at such a pace but I am immensely proud of you all...

12th June

Today there is a high pollen count of grass seeds, so photos of the grasses up on Bath Downs will calm my nerves!

Tis a day I am not particularly inspired to write. There has been a hitch in the selling of houses, their solicitor is playing what I would call a 'silly buggers game', I have a feeling it is to make us reduce the price, LS has called their bluff, now we wait!

Books have still been thrown away at Sainsbury's recycling this morning, and I am happy with that.  I should turn to the news for inspiration but only note that charities are being called to account over how they spend their money.  It does seem a lot goes to charity with actually very little seeming to be done in the country that is supposed to benefit, and large salaries to charity heads fills one with unease.

The latest news from Langtang in Nepal, the village was wiped out completely, is that rebuilding should take place at Ghora Tabela.

AN’s Temba Lama (from Langtang) has suggested that any rebuilding of the main Langtang settlement might best be done at Ghora Tabela, which is less prone to avalanche damage. Rasuwa Relief are already speaking with experts in the geomorphology of Langtang and with structural engineers. This will ensure any rebuilding will be safely sited and built using methods giving greater earthquake resistance, but still being practical in remote mountain areas.

http://www.canepal.org.uk/2015/05/nepal-earthquake-news-update-27th-may/

We are saturated with news at the moment about tourists stripping and posing nude on top of a sacred mountain in Malysia.  They are idiots and therefore deserve what is coming to them.  If our Western culture 'yoofs' thinks it is fine to go round the world in a discourteous fashion, actions and consequences comes to mind and they have to live with the laws of the country they find themselves in.  Am I getting old and grumpy, probably yes but in an age when photos can fly instantly to social media what were they thinking of? And  also they were incredibly rude to their guide, now that really makes me cross......
Edit;  A  more erudite article by Jonathon Friedland in the Guardian this Saturday

Soothing photos from 2008

Ash trees; Up on the downs the ash rules supreme, late coming into leaf it survives the cold of winter and the fierce weather of gales that can be found on the more exposed parts of the downs.
But of course ash is the magical symbolic tree of - the Norse Yggdrasil tree, from which Odin hung for 9 days - a magical number in itself.
If you look at the leaves as they emerge, many ashes have a terminal leaf with four leaves on either side of the stem, making nine, though to be truthful sometimes you can get an 11 leaves or 13 leaves trees; perhaps they have hybridised along the way, so perhaps if you found a nine leafed ash, it was a bit like finding a four leafed clover.

But there is more to the tale, Aubrey Burl in his Stone Circle book, says that the ash also has a phallic symbolism in that the large black terminal bud has two small buds on either side, think on.....