Merry and Bright

We are at home.

We’ve been having fun with friends, enjoying the season.

Admiring the elegant bridesmaids arriving for a wedding in the church opposite the pub where we were having lunch last Saturday.

Preparing to welcome our neighbours for a little get together last Sunday.

Planning to steal this idea for a grand Advent calendar, spotted a Daylesford on Monday morning.

Actually, we were admiring most of the grand things at Daylesford.  It’s a grand sort of place.

£75 for a door wreath?  Beautiful but a little OTT.

The Welsh Rarebit brunch was grand in a different way, thank you!

We’ve made lots of Froebel stars.  Small fingers make light work of them.

when fuelled by Smarties, of course.

My WI entertained a group of 20 guests from the Macular Society to lunch, cooking them a full Christmas dinner and enjoying their company as much as (I hope) they enjoyed their visit.

We all agreed that the fun never stops when we are with friends.

Did I mention that Mary has been here this last week?

Update on Friday, December 23, 2016 at 12:00PM by Gill Thomas

now with links for you, Lesley!!   ;-) 

Gallivanting

When my Mum – or my Grandmother – used the word, it would be said with a slight air of disapproval; as if whoever was involved was up to no good.  It’s a pleasing word though, far too interesting to be resigned for use in such situations and so I will claim to have been a-gallivanting this week, even though there was absolutely nothing untoward.  Believe me!

We decided to drive up to London earlier this week, rather than take the train.  We specialise in getting exactly the right – or wrong - timing almost every time we do, however, finding ourselves in a stationary queue somewhere along the way as we wait for something to happen – in this case, the Changing of the Guard.

At least it means that when we do get going again, the roads are clear!

Though this wasn’t really a shopping trip, we needed to make a couple of necessary purchases, so headed to Oxford Street.  Priorities – and hunger – satisfied, we had a couple of hours to enjoy the seasonal displays and the relative calm of a Tuesday afternoon.

We needed no persuasion to head back to our comfy hotel room however, once the Anthropologie whims had been satisfied!

Heading out later, we could see the angels high above Regent Street in all their illuminated glory.

How lovely that this year, there are no cartoon characters or cheesy advertising but just simple (!) lit figures which are so effective, I think.

Around the corner in Jermyn Street, there’s a host of smaller “cousins” with a very Art Nouveau feel, I thought.

We loved them nearly as much as we loved meeting Edward and Amy for dinner at Trullo, just around the corner from their beautiful new apartment.  Shame we can’t drop in more often! 

The main event was yet to come, though: the annual awards ceremony for the UK Bus Awards, held in a pop-up Ballroom on the South Bank.  I was a member of the panel judging the People awards and looked forward to seeing the outcome of the decisions we made way back in the Summer.

It’s always a fun event amongst friends and I enjoy the lively conversation with interesting table companions.  I did find the lighting a little troubling this year, however – it was rather red and flashy!

The winners are deservedly proud and the afternoon passes in a flash.  Having gone inside before lunch, somehow it’s usually dark by the time we emerge, yet in this strangely lit environment, one has no concept of the passage of time.

As we sat in the cab, en route back to our hotel, we debated whether to hang around another couple of hours and get a bite to eat somewhere before heading home or to simply get the car and make a run for it.

Guess what these country bumpkins chose to do?!

(We were home by 8pm)

Another lovely day

It was an early start but I didn’t mind one bit, because at just gone 9.30am we were sitting in our favourite seats on the top deck of the number 452 bus.

First stop was my favourite OSKA shop where the new season collection is in.  Not that I felt much like buying woolly clothes and warm Winter trousers yet.  Still, it’s good to see what’s around and identify a few nice things

Our aim for the day was the Royal Academy, where the Summer Exhibition is in full swing and a separate, intriguing David Hockney show is running too.

Neither gallery was too crowded to get a good look at things though it was easy to see why the David Hockney show is on timed tickets.  Not quite so much room in there.

It didn’t take us long to identify our favourite pieces of work in the show and an early contender was this clever painting on rough, recycled timber which cleverly utilised the join and the characteristics of the grain to create a wonderful background to some simple but effective painting.  Sadly, way, way out of our budget, but we can all look and admire, can’t we?

The room of architectural art struck a chord with us both and I especially liked this 3D map.  Difficult to photograph in a way which explains the fun of the piece, as each location was marked with a small “signpost”, way too small to read…

but thankfully not too small to photograph!

Also in this room were some stunning architectural drawings, both of the neat and accurate, blueprint ruler and pencil kind but also of the highly skilled, fast and furious thick black marker sort.  My favourite was by Norman Foster – so clever!  In the corner, though, was this assembly of small paper constructions, apparently random folds and shapes but for me, very appealing (it did nothing for my Hero).  I caught my self thinking “I could do that”  (but of course, I probably couldn’t <g>)

One thing is always interesting to observe: the hanging.  Clearly, there are way more pieces of art to hang than in a normal exhibition and displaying the exhibits in broad themes was one way of achieving a coherence of sorts.  Each room had been hung by a different artist, however, and this, the landscape room was especially interesting.  On each wall was a line of smaller works like this one by the door, together with another separate but complementary arrangement.  But who’d have thought of putting that one right up there, high above the others?  Or the little one out on a limb near the corner?  Intriguing.

The large statement piece presented on a set of doors clearly chimed with many and had been selected for reproduction on one of the postcard selections.  Powerful words, I agree.  But going back to the hanging of the pieces, look at that little orange and red piece up there on the wall.  Would you have hung that there?

As you can imagine, we had plenty to talk about even before we viewed the David Hockney (sadly no photographs in those rooms).  Clever, clever man!  The Royal Academy page about the exhibition is a rich source of background information about the man and these works so rather than say any more here, I’ll simply say, we loved it!

Keeping busy

When I don’t write a post for a few days, it’s generally because we are busy enjoying ourselves, as has been the case during the last week or so.  With a day at home, I’m ready to catch up with things generally, not only the washing

I don’t think I posted a picture of this cute entry in the “peg bag” class of a local show?  I thought it a great idea and rather topical too, don’t you agree?

It’s been an inspiring few days one way and another, with a gathering of my friends, the Artful Dodgers at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham last week.  It’s always good to see what they are up to and to catch up with each other in real life, even if we do chat incessantly online!

There were some stunning examples of technical skill at the show.  This one caught our eye just as the steward was revealing the back to another visitor.

I am in awe of such precision!

I’m not sure the design is to my taste, however clever the sewing is (though this was just a small corner and possibly not representative of the overall effect, to be fair).

I couldn’t imagine working all those french knots, either, though on closer inspection, a few of them were actually small beads.  A real heirloom, wouldn’t you say?

For me, I’d rather have something like this – practical, soft, interesting design and beautifully made whilst not too precious to actually use and enjoy. 

None of which could be said about this little treasure, found in Avening church when we dropped in last weekend!  It’s a real blast from the past, created by a group of WI ladies for a competition years ago to depict a story of the church bells being stolen in the dead of night by a bunch of people from the next village.  Who’d have thought that all these years on, it would still be there, sitting on a windowsill in the church?

We were showing the beautiful Norman church to our sweet friends Bill and Wendy, from New Hampshire, explaining to them how it had been founded by William the Conqueror’s wife Matilda in 1079.  It’s so easy to overlook the treasures we pass by frequently but good to have reason to recognise our rich heritage, isn’t it?

Next stop was Fairford, where a rather larger, grander church offered yet more delights, some smaller than others.

We spotted an appropriate kneeler in amongst the collection, too; a reminder of the US Airforce community based in Fairford for many years.

We found a great spot for a picnic by the river, too.

Outside Cirencester Parish Church, there was a parking space just waiting for us to arrive – how could we not make use of it?

Though a sign in one of the side chapels confused me until I took a closer look.

The word “brasses” is hidden behind the frame!

It’s always good when visitors to our part of the world are able to see it at its best.  Standing on Crickley Hill overlooking the Severn Vale, we count our blessings and fill our lungs with clean, fresh air.  No matter what the season, on a clear day it’s beautiful.

Bill and Wendy’s short stay in the Cotswolds ended with a flourish!  We were delighted to be able to share one of our annual treats with them both and gladly followed the directions of the man in the tasselled hi-vis waistcoat.

We had the usual bovine company for our pre-show Pimms, too.

Gifford’s Circus never disappoints and this year’s American “Painted Wagon” show was super.

All our favourites were on the programme: Tweedy the clown, Bibi and Bichu the wonderful jugglers, my Hero’s favourite Nancy Trotter Landry and, this year, some rather incredible acts from the outstanding Konjowoch troupe from Ethiopia.  The women juggled spinning handkerchiefs whilst performing some impressive acrobatics.

It was possibly the men who stole the show though – no I don’t know how they did it, either!

We’d never seen anything quite like it – amazing.

(There’s a great account of the circus here with more photos too.)

Finishing off with supper in the Circus Sauce tent is always a good idea.

The show isn’t over till the Kitchenettes have sung, anyway!

Of course, when all the fun is over and the goodbyes have been said, there is work to be done.

There’s always a blog post to write too

A weekend in July

The weekend of Stroud Show, where I had work to do.  Thank goodness the rain held off this year.

I rather liked the unconventional planting in the park this year.

I couldn’t understand why so many of my pictures had a white blob in them until I looked more closely and discovered a grain of sand in the lens.  Boracay beach is still with me.  Thankfully, I managed to dislodge the teeny tiny speck during the afternoon.

It was still there when we went for lunch at Jolly Nice though.  Kentucky Fried Pheasant anyone?

The yurt was pleasantly cool.

I have renewed interest in barbed wire these days.

Tea in a favourite place is always fun, though we missed Mary’s company.

What’s that?

We did.

What a fun exhibition to round off the weekend, too!