Oh my...

These warm summer days are passing so quickly in the company of good friends from all over the place.  We've enjoyed art, sculpture shows and open gardens galore.  We've celebrated a Golden Wedding Anniversary in a nearby garden, enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon sitting on a village green watching morris dancing and drinking cider.  Occasionally, we've relaxed at home enjoying plenty of interesting conversation and a bottle of wine or two.  During busy times like these, it's all too easy to worry about what's happening tomorrow, never mind later in the week, so we're trying hard to simply sit back and enjoy the here and now.

I keep taking my "photo of the day" as a reminder of some lovely days and hope this gorgeous weather will last for a little while longer.

An English summers's day is such a rare treasure. 

A great crust!

Mark and I have spent a terrific day at Shipton Mill, learning to bake excellent bread with Clive, their master baker.  Whilst I wouldn't describe either of us as total novices, it was clear from the start that neither of us really understood the whys and wherefores of the process.  Thanks to Clive's clear explanations, we were soon producing the silkiest of doughs and within a couple of hours we had a small collection of loaves.  That's my crusty cottage loaf up there in the photograph - isn't it gorgeous?

 

After a tour of the mill and a delicious lunch - yes, with yummy bread baked by Clive this morning - we made an enriched dough for Chelsea buns (did Mark's eyes light up to hear those magic words?!) and a sweet pastry for piecrust.

We left bearing a tray full of goodies: a cottage loaf, a herby soda bread, pittas, a white plait, a dozen Chelseas and a half pound of sweet shortcrust pastry.

Oh, and a bag containing some of Clive's 14-year old "mother" (sourdough starter, for us to keep alive by feeding and using to bake our own delicious sourdough bread)

What a generous chap. 

What delightful people, so ready and willing to share their pride in the products they produce and their love of good, home made bread. 

What a lovely day!

No-one would have believed....

Thirty years on.  Two couples of similar vintage and musical heritage spot the notice of a forthcoming live performance in Birmingham and eagerly organise tickets for this, the 30th Anniversary tour of Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds".  Having been brought up on such things, the 24yr old "next generation" agrees to join the olds for the night and in a great evening of light and laughter (and serious political discussion!) the five of us had a wonderful time.

Great to see so many of the original musicians performing this oh-so-familiar work.  We've just about worn out the 2-CD set over the years and have enjoyed watching the DVD of the first tour, recorded some years ago.  So, it was with some trepidation that we watched Justin Hayward step onto the stage and start to sing...needn't have worried though.   

The whole thing was a huge success from start to finish.  We loved it!

Treasure

Though there was much treasure to be found in and around Umea (much of it in the Hemslojdens shop) just a couple of small things found their way home with me.

 

These short, handmade birch (of course) needles were such a great find that I was sorely tempted to buy a pair in every size.  I didn't.  We'll see how useful these are and perhaps I'll make a list of more sizes when a further visit to Umea is scheduled - maybe later in the year.

I've tried to find a link to the small but very comprehensive knitting shop where I bought them, or to the makers themselves, but sadly no joy. 

Of course, I couldn't leave the Hemslodjens store empty handed and fell for this book of terrific wristwarmer patterns.  In Swedish.  Crochet.  Do I speak Swedish?  No.  Can I crochet?  Well.....not very well.  So, we have the next challenge!

Art and Elk

We knew, as soon as we spotted 160 mens jackets hanging in the trees, that we'd arrived at the Umedal sculpture park!  Actually, this proved to be one of our favourite images of the park for wherever we were, that interesting line cut through the trees and caught our eye.  Each jacket was different, each one connected to its mate by the sleeves, forming quite a chummy kind of conga party in the tree tops. (Kaarina Kaikkonen, A Path 2004)

 

Looking around in the area marked for an Antony Gormley figure (Another Time VIII, 2007), we ought to have known where to look.  As it was, it took us some minutes...

We weren't really looking for #1 on our map but Tra spotted it from afar and couldn't quite believe her eyes until it dawned on her that this too was an exhibit.(Lin Peng, A New Perspective, 2004)

So began the conversation.  Is this art or is it something left by a worker?  (Art: Roland Persson, Untitled painted bronze)

Spot the art here: the orange is art, the rest building work (Mats Bergqvist, Flip 2006)

The art didn't finish when we left the sculpture park, because the road to the Elk Farm was named the "Art Route" and we had a couple of items to look out for.  We nearly missed the first: a small brick built hearth in a wooded corner of a layby.  The second was somewhat easier to spot - not only did we now know how these things were signed, we'd seen plenty of images of the broken glass church and felt sure that this one qouldn't be so easy to miss.

As it was, the signs were almost larger than the church itself, which was pretty small and insignificant among the birch trees.  After such riches this morning, we ticked this one off pretty quickly and moved on.

To the elks.

To seven youngsters, less than a month old.  Very friendly and rather cute.

and four rather larger members of their family.  Gentle, slow and partial to a banana or two, they were surprisingly large and overpowering close up.  We enjoyed our encounter though.

Finally, at last, we got to see the Open Source Embroidery exhibition which offered loads of food for thought.  We had images bluetoothed to our phones, read 2D barcodes (remember this?) and saw plenty of things which set our minds reeling and, in my case, needing explanation from the more IT conversant partner.

It was a hugely thought-provoking exhibiton but both of us actually preferred the more conventional centenary craft co-op exhibit next door, which I got to see for a second time.

Home tomorrow with lots to think about, a few treasures from the trip and both of us ready for a dark night or two.