Learned about this chap, Dr Wood, on Gardener’s World this morning. A guy living in Norfolk. And a man obsessed. I have to say, I really dig what he’s done/is doing.
The ones shown above would be lovely. But he suggests they’re quite fussy, soil-wise. And we’re not great gardeners. So I’ll have to see if we’re up to it.
His story about the pink hibiscus he spots in a French hedgerow, and his subsequent quest to first find (no luck), and then create (a proper odyssey!) them, is great.
Passion and inspiration, in the quest for beauty and perfection? Wonderful.
Some while ago – I forget exactly when now – I got a whole silver-plate tea service, free, via Freecycle, inc. a third triple candlestick. The decent state of this lot makes our two other candlesticks look pretty awful. So I bought some stuff to buff ‘em all up.
Coffee pot.
As well as the candle-stick, tea pot, sugar bowl, milk jug, etc, there’s also a coffee pot.
Now we have three of these!
We do love Freecycle! And getting stuff like this for nowt… What’s not to like?
The set helps dress our dining table nicely.
And finally, above, the whole lot, adorning the dining table when in action. A home made curry… mmm!
Below I’m sharing a gallery of just some of the fabulous album covers by Alex Steinweiss, inventor of the album cover.
What a guy! He created a whole new world of expression that has subsequently gone on to become a huge part of the fabric of musical life and culture, of the last 80 odd years.
All of the above images come from here, where you can find yet more. That website was, I believe, created around a show staged quite some time ago (poss around 2008?).
I have a book – Taschen, perhaps? – with loads of Steinweiss’ work. Not just album covers. It’s a real treasure trove. But the book is rather small (15 x 20 cm, or thereabouts).
I recently searched for the larger version of the same book. But the cost is beyond my means. Then I looked for a postcard set. There ain’t one! Massive gap in market/sales opportunity!
I did find this very tantalising website (see also three above images). But whilst they seem to have done exactly what I want to find – printed quality facsimiles of a bunch (50?) of Steinweiss album covers – it doesn’t seem to have been a commercially public project. I’ve emailed them, to see if one can buy their prints… I await a reply!
We bought this nice vintage armchair of FB Marketplace, for £30. Getting it into Ruby was a puzzler. But I did it. Mind, the boot wouldn’t quite shut. So it – the boot lid – had to be held down with string!
It’s a little old n’ tatty, being ever so slightly stained. That’s why they used to use antimaccasars, I believe. Maybe we should get one?
Of course the instant we put it down, Chester claimed it as his own. Or as his ‘throne’!
On a recent short break with family, on Mersea Island, I discovered this tipple: Brothers cider, in a Rhubarb & Custard variety flavour.
I enjoyed drinking a few bottles of this over that all too short sojourn. And since then have often looked for it in my locality. But whilst I’ve occasionally found the Brithers brand of cider, except on once occasion, it’s always been other flavours.
So I now know and love the Toffee Apple version. But I’d been miffed not to locate this flavour. And then I chanced across some, in Elton, a lovely little village not far from Peterborough. I poichased four bottles.
Funny thing is, after the long hiatus, it’s not quite a great as I’d thought or was. It’s nice n’ all. It’s a tad sweet (but all these Brothers ciders are!). And the rhubarb flavour I love.
But I think the Toffee Apple one is actually a touch nicer! And, since first drafting this, I’ve discovered that there are many other flavours, inc. the quite lovely Cherry Bakewell!
Teresa had trouble getting to work on pubic transplant today. So much so she eventually gave up n’ came home.
When she got back, I was on a call to one of my two current counsellors. One I see weekly (more or less), the other fortnightly. This was the latter.
I don’t know why she did – perhaps hearing that I was on a call, she wondered who to? – but Teresa snuck quietly up stairs. But I rumbled her, on account of squeaky floorboards!
Anyway, it was nice to see her at home, during the day, at a time when I’m normally home alone. She’s still home. But I’m out for another delivery shift.
I have to say that this job is really good for me at present.
One of the chief reasons is the time it’s giving me to heal and recuperate after a period of extreme depression and self-destructive self-indulgent risk-taking foolishness.
Many is the time – such as right now – I’m sat alone in my car, somewhere, or I’m out and about, one way or another, and – especially if the weather’s gorgeous, as it is right now – I’m in a state of near exultant bliss!
I do worry, sometimes, that this is just part of my manic depressive (or bipolar, as they call it nowadays) tendencies. But, fuck it! I’m also trying to take life just as it is, as it comes. Roll with the punches. Be thankful for what I’ve got.
And into this happy space, new tendrils are growing. For example, just in the last couple of days, I feel inspired to write poetry! I’ve actually done this on and off all my adult life. And even during childhood.
I don’t particularly want to share these poems with the wider world right now. But I would like to keep writing more, and maybe make collections. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll even end up as a published writer?
After my delivery shift today, I slowly travelled home via the scenic back roads. I found this spot. New to me. It’s a local stone bridge over the river Welland.
The view looking (roughly) eastwards.Centre span.
Taking a little time out, like this, is amazing. I sat on the bridge for about half an hour or so, soaking up the peaceful ambience. Such bliss!
Westside, looking north.Another pano’!
I love the ‘pano’ function on my iPhone. I’m not 100% sure I always like the photos I take with it. But it does allow one to capture things that would otherwise elude the lens.
At the time of posting, St Mary’s Books of Stamford, a bookshop fairly local to me that I love to visit as often as I can, have the above pictured highly collectible hardback first-edition of Tolkien’s hugely popular meisterwerk, The Lord Of The Rings.
I have numerous editions… but not this one.
This trio of books is priced at a bargainous £35,000!!! Read more here. Or you can squint at this screenshot:
A pretty eye-watering price, eh!?
Showing their age a bit.
I wonder, have they sold it? And if so, for how much? Did they get their asking price? I’ll have to ask them, next time I visit.
SEPT ‘24
Well, it’s close to a year – almost to the day – since I made the above post – and I just called the shop, to find out if they’d sold the LOTR 1st edition. But they couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) tell me. It still appears, as a clickable link, entitled ‘featured books’. But when you follow said link, it’s not one of the featured books. Curioser and curioser! The lady I spoke to told me the website is being revamped, and that that might be why the listing for this item is a bit confused/confusing.
After I was done delivering today, I had a little mooch round Stamford. What a wonderful place!
Two of many great things about Stamford are, the architecture and stone-masonry. The local stone – Ketton and Barnack (both sharing their names with local places where the stone is quarried) – is wonderful.
My kind of people!
Above and below, just two of many fabulous buildings in Stamford. These two proudly proclaiming themselves.
Stamford folk are proud!
Another Stamford treasure is St Mary’s Books, who deal in antiquarian, second hand, and collectible tomes. What a place for a bibliophile!
Sadly, being more or less penniless, all I could do was get the rather sweet and lovely Bookworms, by artist/illustrator Hoffnung (who is perhaps best known – at least to me – for his orchestral or musically themed illustrations, animations, etc.), for the princely sum of £2!
Here are some of the terrific little cartoons:
Aha! The more familiar musical schtuff.Such an eye for composition!The irresistible book at bedtime.The End.
I’d like to cut these all up and frame them. But then again, I’d like to keep the book as a whole, as is. Mayhap I can get another copy super cheap (again!?); one can be cut up ‘n’ framed, the other kept pristine.
At the other end of the spending spectrum , St Mary’s Books have, amongst their huge and diverse inventory, a first edition hardback trilogy version of Tolkien’s LOTR, a snip at £35K!
After my jaunt through the winding back roads, ‘twixt such places as Turves, Burnt House and the glorious Cock Bank, I finally wound up in Whittlesey.
The fab but very small entrance.
And here I decided to explore one of the churches. St. Mary’s isn’t set in the nicest environs. Whilst she benefits from a park or playing field on her west aspect, the other sides are hemmed in by more modern development, such as the car park, where I stopped.
One of the things I always look for first, inside churches like this, is the stained glass.
Truth be told, the Reformation and post-Cromwellian vandalism – what Eamon Duffy called the The Stripping Of The Altars* – mean that almost all of any original glass is long gone. Instead you get acres of boring plain glass, and the stuff folk have put back in the centuries since. A very great proportion of it in the Victorian era.
* A book I want read, but haven’t got round to yet.
Consequently a lot of the stuff in parochial places, such as this, can tend to be of the rather journeyman variety. Better taken in broadly, at a glance and for overall effect, paling somewhat on closer inspection.
These three are notably darker.
Ken (more on him below) told me the above window is darker, and richer, because it never gets direct sunlight, and therefore the colours haven’t faded. So it’s supposedly nearer to its original state than the other (more faded) windows.
The largest one, behind the altar.
This one, behind the altar, is darker or duller for a different reason. It needs cleaning! Also, light through this lot is blocked by a row of large trees, just outside the window.
A church Warden, named Ken approached me, as I was wandering around taking photos outside. I suspect he might have though I was ‘casing the joint’. He ended up giving me a guided tour!
There’s some interesting local historical connections: from Cromwellian vandals, to a Napoleonic general, and Thomas ‘traction engines’ Aveling (Fred Dibnah fans like me will have heard of Aveling and Porter machines!). Lots of interesting architecture, decoration, furnishings, etc. Fab!
The Bishops chair.
I love this seat! The Bishop’s chair, apparently. Wasn’t too keen on the egregious Tupperware though!
Ditto, sans Tupperware!
I took another pic, without the spurious Tupperware. The style is Roman, in terms of the two opposed or symmetrical ’C’ shapes, turned on their sides, that make up the basic curvy ‘X’ of the architecture or structure.
Love the carving!
I don’t know if the embellishment is Romanesque, as well? Or more Gothic, and Northern European? Whatever it may be, I love it! Napoleon had a similar shaped seat. But his was much more ‘Imperial bling’. I prefer this one. It feels like it’s crept out of dark northern woods, as, indeed, in a sense – it’s manufacture – it has.
Such glorious workmanship.
I have plans to build a similar chair for myself. One of these good ol’ days…
