Tuesday 1st February - Looking back, looking ahead

 I'm not doing 'New Years Resolutions' this year. I decided to start each month afresh, with a 'wish list' rather than resolutions, and see how I got on.

So, January;

Did I learn the new piano pieces? NO! And I didn't do much practice either. Ah well. I did make a start on the Jacques Ibert 'Little White Donkey', and it wouldn't take much effort to finish it. I think I'll carry that one forward.

However I did finish the mitten (memo to self, next time DO use a smaller needle for the ribbing) and also a pair of socks, my first ever. 

I am amused to see that laying the socks on top of the printer for the photograph has resulting in me awarding myself a star! 

The socks have pointy toes; I did graft the toe end of the RH sock but had the sock in the wrong orientation. Who cares! I am going to use them as bed socks, which is one of the reasons why the legs are so short. The other reason is that I wasn't sure if I would have enough wool.

I did finish the other two projects; a cowl (now chopped up in the compost bin, memo to self; DO NOT knit things like that in pure Shetland wool, far too itchy) and the little white Christmas ornaments, now stuffed with lavender and reposing in my sock drawer.

Walking happened - and I now that I have discovered I can convert 30 mins ballet to approximately half a mile of walking, I shall make faster virtual progress around the Ring of Kerry.

Weight-wise I ended the month a couple of pounds lighter than I started it - in spite of the Christmas Chocolate stash, home-made macaroons and rockish scone-ish cakes, pannetone, and other delights. 

So, looking ahead...

Finish learning the Little White Donkey,

Make another pair of socks in finer wool and try and get the green jumper going again (it's stuck at the moment as I work out what to do next. Following a proper pattern would have made this much easier!)

Do more drawing/panting

Walk more, now that the weather is improving

See if I can end the month a little lighter than when I started it

That's five items on the wish list. Plenty.

The new picture at the top of this blog comes from when we took a short break in Tewkesbury, oh so many years ago now. Maybe it was 2014. I notice the month is April, but it was bitterly cold when we were there, more like February. The dragon lives at the bottom of someone's garden, facing across the water meadows and the River Severn. We spoke to owner; she had commissioned it as a memorial to her husband, who came from Wales. 

Here he is again, for people using their tablets or mobiles to read this post;

 

   

 

April 10th - Tewkesbury - Self Catering

Landmark trust properties are pricier than your "Happy Holiday Cottages" - but you get what you pay for in terms of interest, quirkiness, difference.

We've squared the circle by self-catering rather than eating out. By using Waitrose cheats it has been a non-sacrificial saving.

Monday:
Lunch at the National Trust café at Avebury - I strongly recommend the sausage sandwiches. He would say the same about the bacon sandwich. We both rated the coffee and walnut cake as a good'un.
Supper was some Waitrose pork ribs that we had intended to eat over the weekend. They briefly joined us for a little holiday with carrots and baked potatoes.

Tuesday:
Breakfast was croissants and marmalade.
Lunch was home-made soup. I'd brought a bag of potatoes, and various bits of veg from the bottom of the fridge. Take half a large leek, soften in butter, add a large potatoes cut into cubes and some stock and dried herbs. Leave to cook. Stir in more liquid if needed, and also some leftover diced roast pork that had travelled up from home. Bring to the boil and serve with bread and butter.
Supper was a pizza from the Waitrose in Malborough (my word, that shop is HUGE, you wouldn't think so from the outside!) with some salad, followed by fruit.

Wednesday:
Breakfast as before.
Lunch; home-made soup again. As well as the leek and potato I added some peeled and chopped cherry tomatoes and a diced carrot. For meatiness I crumbled in some corned beef that we had brought. Bread and butter and fruit - perfect.
Supper was a Waitrose slow-cooked leg of lamb, that just needed another 35 minutes in the oven, with baked potatoes and braised leeks and cabbage, followed by some incredibly sticky coffee eclairs.

Thursday:
Breakfast was toast and marmalade, as the croissants were now a part of history.
Lunch - I'll let you guess - yup - souper soup. This time the meatiness came from leftover lamb from last night. While the leeks and potatoes were getting going, I boiled up the lamb bone and bits and pieces with the green part of a leek to make a little stock, added that to the veg with the leftover lamb cut into chunks.
Supper - ah to be confirmed. This is where the system will self destruct, as we are meeting up with some of the family and going out for a meal. You can go with the fixed price menu - two courses for £20 - which looks good and reasonable. However, he has already spotted the fillet of beef with mushrooms and a red wine sauce. I've got my eye on scallops with chorizo and rocket and capers. yum yum yum.

I'll tell you what though, home-made soup is so easy, and takes some beating. It doesn't need much in the way of preparation, ingredients or cooking, or even time. I reckon half an hour from the thought, through the deed, to the proof of the pudding souping. One chopping board, one knife, one saucepan. Not much washing up neither.

April 10th - Tewkesbury 8 - Our comfortable abode

Old engraving of the gatehouse (photograph of picture at the bottom of the stairs to the "bedroom"

Where we sleep - a sort of balcony, with the bathroom and kitchen built underneath;

The kitchen area - there is a window opposite the sink.

View from the upstairs sleeping area looking down at the living room. The log burner is going beautifully.

The table, two chairs and a bench are directly under where I was standing to take the last picture. I reckon you could seat 10 people without being too crowded. I'm sitting at one end right now, where my laptop is in the picture.

I think the other chair must have been made for Richard 11, the Crookback (according to Wikipedia he developed idiopathic scoliosis. ) 

 

 

Anyway, this chair, made to the same pattern as the other, doesn't have a straight line in its body. It's surprisingly comfortable to sit in.

 

A bathroom is a bathroom. I'm not getting up to photograph it. It has a loo and a basin and a bath, in a darkly panelled cabin under the sleeping platform.

April 10th - Tewkesbury 7 - Belated Birthday Present

Someone in the family had a birthday a few days ago, and we weren't there. We had left presents behind, for opening, and we phoned, but it's not the same.

Here is a belated birthday present - someone's blog that I have just tripped across. It will appeal to his sense of humour.

How I found it is like this; while rambling around Tewkesbury this morning, we spotted this.

 

 

By the way, I have just learned how to crop photographs on my phone! Who's clever then!

 

We are avid plaque and sign readers, and I enjoyed this one. Once back at the ranch, I investigated to find out what might have happened, but didn't, on that day - Tewkesbury has a long and complicated history.

 

It's a mixture of disappointing, interesting, dull and amusing.

 

The plaque is "an amusing gift item", and can been seen on buildings in Bourton-on-the-Water and Rye and all sorts of places; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cast-Iron-Sign-NOTHING-HAPPENED/dp/B00F4479M4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397134332&sr=8-1&keywords=on+this+site+nothing+happened

 

(Hurry, only one left in stock, price £14.85)

 

I also discovered from this blog, which I am about to make you a present of, that it is the date of an indecisive Naval battle in the American War of Independence (I'm pleased to note that his blog is as full of typos as mine)

 

AND, if you accept the theory that the year should have been 1752, not 1782, the "nothing" really did happen, as the date lies in that period of 13 days that were "lost" when changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.

 

So, here's the blog; www.uselessofblog.blogspot.com "Infrequently Asked Questions". It's also got quite a lot of techie stuff to amuse and entertain.

 

Happy Birthday 

April 9th - Tewkesbury 6 - Deerhurst some more

We walked a short distance, past this tree with a gaping hole in its trunk

 and just the other side was the River Severn, flowing innocuously, but deceptively fast when you took a second look. Fast enough that the ducks on the water were fairly whizzing past, and preferred to fly back upstream rather than swim..




Looking back, we could see the tower of St Mary the Virgin, the parish church, and all that remains of the Saxon Minster. That was our next destination, just a few minute walk.

When we got there, past two sets of formidable steel floodgates firmly mounted to solid walls, and the remains of the old defences close by, we saw a sign:

Angels are becoming a sort of ostinato. You can just make it out, up high, on a wall at the east end of the church. The original circular apse was replaced by a later seven-sided building, which was later demolished, leaving just this angel. 

 Here he is in close-up, a photograph of a photograph from the information board inside the church.

The church interior, what's left, which is plenty, is stunning. Two more pictures from the information board:

 And one of a pair of Saxon carved beasts either side of the entrance door.

We left in peace, and came back to the Gatehouse for lunch (via shopping for milk and firewood for the log fire).

He went out for a prowl afterwards, while I stayed in, listening to music and getting on with working on the current patchwork quilt - this one -

I'm at the stage of quilting around each of the patterned squares to layer up the filling (an old fleece cot blanket which was second hand when I got it) and the backing - the remains of a duvet cover that he already had when I married him. So far, on this holiday, I have done 9 squares. That's not bad, as they take at least 15 minutes each. It's the right task for here because I can tuck myself under the rest of the quilt while I am working on a section - very cosy and warm.

April 9th - Tewkesbury 5 - Odda's Chapel - Deerhurst

I was going to call this post "Odds and Sods"

This morning after watching the mystical effects of the dawn on the stone carvings around the roof again,

I went back to sleep (bet you weren't expecting that!)

When I did get up an hour later, and we had finished - in every sense - the croissants - (cereal and toast tomorrow) we went to Deerhurst, a minute hamlet  about three miles South along the River Severn from here. It is a lovely walk, but we went by car. Walking three miles there would be fine, but not sure if I have the stamina yet for walking back again.

Why Deerhurst?

Let the place speak for itself. Imagine a warm Spring day, clear blue skies, bright sun, a slightly fresh breeze...

The chapel was discovered in the 19th Century by the vicar, George Butterworth, (father of the composer of the same name, who was killed by a sniper in WW1). The chapel had become incorporated into the farmhouse, which appears to have given back one room, upstairs and downstairs.

Today a builder was there, doing general maintenance, cleaning the windows, checking to make sure everything was as it should be. That's his window cleaning stuff by the door.

The section through the arch, where the ladder is, looks as though it used to be part of the farmhouse. We were asked if we wanted to go up for a look around;
"yes please",
"well, don't fall of the ladder or anything, will you",
"we promise not to"

There was a floor, and a fireplace to the left, and a blocked in door to the rest of the farmhouse to the right.

The place was a stark, plain, bare, solid, statement of enduring faith. That's what Admiral Hopwood thought too;

April 9th - Tewkesbury 4 - Music

There is no television here, no radio, CD player. And no microwave either - I'd brought a couple of sachets of popcorn from my graze box to have in the evenings, but they will just have to come home with us. I'm not so keen on popcorn that I'm about to mess about with saucepans.

So, we have spent the evenings reading, watching the fire and listening to music.

Because, although this is a low-tech place, we came prepared!

How do you think I am getting these posts up - letter by letter on my mobile phone, and then hour by hour over a weak and flaky internet connection? No Way!




Dangling from the medieval masonry is a magical black box that gives us wi-fi! I may be on holiday, but I can still gmail, and tweet, (and, until I messed up my password this morning, do facebook). I am CONNECTED!

Ranged on the stone sills are - to the right - all the chargers for kindles, phones, tablet, laptop, mp3 player and power for a portable speaker. To the left, the mp3 player and the speaker itself, not very powerful, but enough to provide gentle background music.


Over the past days we have listened to

Bach cello suites - perfect in this ambience,
The Hilliard Ensemble with Jan Gabarek  - a haunting interpretation of early choral music and saxophone improvisations
The London Quartet (a vocal quartet, just to explain!) singing my totally favourite album "Lullabyes and Goodbyes"
Chopin Etudes.

Last night I was able to buy and download The London Quartet's latest CD, "Songs of Love and War" from the ChampsHill label, and I listened to that today while He was out exploring and I was having a lazy afternoon.

I could, I suppose, go browsing, using my laptop and our wi-fi connection, and buy even more music... tempting...

All this music somehow seems to enhance the peace and quiet of this place.

Tewkesbury 3 - So like Skegness

Weather - bright, sunny, dull, overcast, drizzling, raining, sunny, bright, dull....

We went through the Victoria Pleasure Gardens opposite, down to a river. Not a river, an off-shoot of the Avon, made by the Benedictine monks for their mill. We could see the marks of the floodwater on the walls which bounded the gardens. This is what it looked like at the beginning of the year;



http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/WEATHER-Gloucestershire-flood-warnings-remain/story-20402012-detail/story.html

 

If you think of the Abbey as being at the centre of a clock, the Victoria Gardens are at about 9. The blobs are the trees we walked beside, and the building completely surrounded by water at 10 is the mill. Perhaps I should reassure you that the water is all back where it belongs now so our feet were quite dry.

 

Once at the mill, we walked up towards the town, peering along the hundred of little alleys that run between the buildings back down to the river. Just about every building has to be listed as grade something-or-other, especially the house that is only 8 feet wide...

 

I didn't take any photographs, exect this one; a rather fine angel carved onto a door.

 

 

He said I should have waited until the angel had emerged from the shadows but I couldn't hang around that long. Why not? Well, did I mention the weather? As well as the sun and the clouds and the rain and the drizzle, there was a continuous ICY WIND that made his ears tingle and kept my hands firmly in their pocketses. April? It's January in there here parts! SO BRACING - like the Skegness of the railway posters.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74309/skegness-is-so-bracing-poster-hassall-john-ri/

 

 

We walked up the length of the High Street and it started to rain. So we dived into an excellent cafe where we thawed out with hot chocolates (mine was a "baby choc", his was the "eggstravaganza" involving whipped cream and crushed mini-eggs). And immediately, the rain stopped and the sun came out. That was the kind of weather it was.

 

Excitement was provided by someone's car catching fire in the main street - one fire engine and one police car and all sorted.  

 

By now we really were too cold, so we made our way back to warmth and shelter.

 

On the way, we looked in at estate agent windows - we could sell our 1950s surburban heap of bricks and afford a four-bedroom sweetly pretty roses round the door cottage and have money over for cheese (we know people who really like cheese)

 

But if it is always going to be freezing or flooded here, we might think again....

 

Spent the afternoon back in the Abbey, having another look at the beautiful stone tracery, the stained glass, the ceiling bosses, the misericords (can't pass up a good misericord). They have a splendid selection here; I liked this hen and cockerel.

 

http://www.misericords.co.uk/tewkesbury.html

Back at base camp - less of the base, more of the mid-altitude camp, we played with fire, and finally won

 

 

 

At least, for a brief hour or so. It has now reverted to a pile of embers.

 

Oh well, "and so to bed" as Pepys said.

Tewkesbury 2 - Darkness and Light

When we put the lights out last night, it all went dark. Properly dark. We have out own personal streetlight at home, planted outside our bedroom window, which stays on until midnight.

After a few minutes, the darkness became less complete, but even so, it was night time for real.

The wonderful thing was waking early in the morning (the alarm has been set for 6 am for so many years that our internal alarms are hardwired now). A pale, silver light was creeping in through the windows and differentiating the high lights and shadows of the monk who supports one corner of the ceiling. How fitting, that he should be the one to see in the dawn - lauds?

The light slowly, imperceptibly, but actually rather quickly, if you see what I mean, became yellow and then gold. The Angel Gabriels's hair was tinged with gold, then his face, then the angels on the other side of the room...

We started the day with coffee in bed (I did that bit) and then croissants and marmalade and more coffee downstairs in the morning sun (he did that bit). Whisky marmalade, thanks to a Christmas present, and Chantry Hotel marmalade, thanks to a good friend.

Once we were ready, we sallied forth into the town.

Tewkesbury 1 - Angels!

Horrible horrible drive through  driving rain and blinding spray thrown up by vehicles. Rain reduced to just a light drizzle when we got to Avebury (remember the stone circle? I think we stopped there with Hilary on our way back from Cornwall). Well, we stopped there for lunch, but didn't stay long - cold, windy and wet.

 

Extraordinary swathes of COWSLIPS along the verge of A417 towards Gloucester and M5 - never seen so many in one go in my life. I've read about making cowslip wine, and always wondered as you need BATHTUBS full of flowers, and I've not seen that quantity in one go before. 

 

Arrived in Tewkesbury shortly after 4pm - still raining. The gatehouse is stunning - in many ways. Was pretty much pole-axed by the stairs to get the "first floor" - steep spiral staircase of 44 narrow windy stairs - well lit, glad to say. Once I'd made it to the top, and caught my breath, I found myself in charming living room with old-fashioned furniture, antique portraits, polished dark wood tables... You can see all here|:

 

http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/abbey-gatehouse-4453.

 

The man was a hero - he made a zillion trips up the winding stair from the car with all our stuff (food, clothes, "tech").

 

Once we had recovered we lit the fire, had a cup of tea, and later went for a little potter round the Abbey itself. The quality of the stone carving in the Abbey is amazing - there's a chantry where the stonework is as thin as wood, and appears to be so light that a breath would blow it away. There are ceiling bosses and arches and pillars and niches where statues used to be, and traces of wall paintings... some fabulous, glorious modern stained glass in rich green and gold. We'll have to go back there.  

 

When we go to bed there are beautifully carved stone angels keeping watch (how DID they escape the vandalism of earlier times?). Here's Uriel, with the book of Revelation

 

 

and Raphael, praying for healing (a previous guest worked out who they all are - there are four, Gabriel, reading a long message, and Michael with a shield are also with us.)

 

 

 

 

 

I remember singing this song, from "Hansel and Gretel", when I was at school. The London Quartet sing a luscious version of it on their album "Lullabies and Goodbyes" which I frequently listen to;

When at night I go to sleep,
Fourteen angels watch do keep,
Two my head are guarding,
Two my feet are guiding;
Two upon my right hand,
Two upon my left hand.
Two who warmly cover
Two who o'er me hover,
Two to whom 'tis given
To guide my steps to heaven.

Here it is for you to listen to...

http://metoperafamily.org/video/watch/hansel-and-gretel-evening-prayer-aleksandra-kurzak-kate-lindsey/1498420822001

Sleep well.