Autumn Cottage Diarist

To Go No More A Roving

Lissie, taking the air at my open office window last week..

Another of my beautiful and beloved companion creatures has taken her last breath. Lissie was hit by a car this morning while I was out. Initially looked as if she was dead, an immensely kind neighbour* noticed that she was still breathing, gathered her up and rushed her to a vet. I had a phone call from them and was told the extent of her injuries - very severe and extensive head wounds - and had to make the hardest of hard decisions any animal lover ever has to make. Now her suffering is over.

'Over The Rainbow Bridge' is a comforting concept at times like this...her memory plays happily in the sun there now. Thank you, my beautiful girl, for all the love and happiness you brought to us.

I have no more words - only tears.

*Mrs Smythe - I have your name but no address. Please let me know where you are if  by chance you read this...

Commedia at the Cottage

 

Hmm. Not been doing very well at 'a post a day' for August, have I? Little 'out and about in North Hampshire', for no other reason than that I have been out and about only a very little. The weather has been very un-August like - or should that be 'un-fantasy-August-like' - the fantasy of long, sunny days, sitting on the beach or strolling through meadows of long grass...whereas August has often been like this in the last few years - changeable, unpredictable - often wet...VERY wet (But thankfully, no hurricanes....)

Also some family 'stuff' going on (nothing bad - all good) requiring some moving around and re-arranging of rooms/furniture etc. All of which has let to the fact that I have spent a lot more time indoors than out of doors. Doing essential things and Autumn-cottagy-y things...writing, framing pictures, buying and restoring furniture and antiques...just enjoying the things with which I am fortunate enough to be surrounded - both inside and out.

Then last week, I had an email from an online friend, telling me that an acquaintance of hers was planning an extended stay in Venice. Immediately, the memories, and the pleasures, and the longings flooded back. I thought I had quelled the latest stirrings of those longings...after I had given a talk to the local Historical Association, back in June, about my visit there in 2006, retracing the steps of an Edwardian lady. I thought the fire had died down - but those of you who know Venice will know that, one in the blood, the fire of longing for Venice never, ever dies down - it is always there to be rekindled with the tiniest incidental tinder spark.

So to just to have a 'fix' of Venice, to bring back happy, happy memories, and to fan the flame of longing to visit again...I throught I would introduce you today to some of my very favourite souvenirs of Venice that I particularly love - four characters from the Commedia del'Arte, made in two forms of paper art.

The outer two figures of the brothers (sometimes held to be variants of the same stock character) - the scheming, lustful Brighella and Mezzetino the musical flirt, were purchased from Piazzesi, (just a little way from San Moise, in the Campiello della Feltrina, for those who know the landscape :-)) and are composed of painted paper pulp. The inner two - Pantalone, the greedy merchant, and love-struck Flaminea, (from Ca' Macana in Cannaregio), are, however, constructed differently, being made of sculpted and painted paper.

These second two are my favourites - the delicacy with which they are formed, the manner in which textile movement is suggested through a medium which is the opposite of soft and flexible, to be is a great artistic achievement. How I would love to learn to make figures like this...

The three tiny figures in front (Pierrot, Columbina and Il Dottore, in Bauta mask)) are only resin cast miniatures, bought to ornament - one day - the miniature Venetian Palazzo that I am making

But all these figures bring the charm, the theatre, and the colour of Venice back to me in a very particular way, and together with the poster of a selection of sketches of Venice, which I purchased from a workshop owner (and puppet maker)  in Tintoretto's House back in 2006, they inspire and call me back to La Serenissima with a light but persistent siren call.

Ah....I must go down to the sea again...to the lonely sea and the sky; specifically, that bit of sea and sky which surrounds the Salute and San Giorgio Maggiore :-))).

I must begin to make plans again!

In the Garden Room

I did not need it. I cannot really afford it. It is completely useless in a practical way - but since I saw this little oil painting last week,  I have not been able to put it to the back of my mind. Though it might be viewed as saccharine and sentimental by some, I quite simply fell in love with it - for it captures the essence of the atmosphere in my own conservatory, and I like to think that at some point in the last 100 or so years (the painting is dated '07) some other lady of the house sat here at the cottage, quietly writing and stitching, with her pot plants all around her - just as I also do today.

I have trimmed expenditure on other items over the last few days, and I know that I will have pleasure from looking at this picture every day in the future...so surely, the price I paid is a complete bargain - however much it was - don't you agree? :-))

A Few Little Treasures

I promised I would show you the items I found in the antiques and bric-a-brac shop yesterday - and for once, I am keeping that promise...so here they are!

Firstly, a little Victorian figure, barely 3.5"/9 cm high, selling - ? (looks as if it could be asparagus!). She is probably taken from the 'Street Cries of London' series of engravings that have been popular since the 18th century. (Sorry this first picure is a bit blurred - the reflective, shiny porcelain was a devil to photograph).

Next, a pair of crucifixes, (of similar size to the figure) which I collect...both in base metals, but interesting in both their ornamental qualities and as expressions of personal devotion. The simpler one has a top loop to take a chain, but the larger one, with the black stone, has no such attachment.

But the item which delighted me the most was this...a set of what I can only think are table beads, created purely for ornament. All are irregular shapes, so very likely hand-made, and the larger beads are each the size of a hen's egg. The scrolling painted decoration on each of the large beads makes me suspect that it was made in the 1930's - and I think it has been re-strung onto the current, rather brash gold braid from some earlier stringing, which may well have perished. I paid only £6.00 uk pounds for it - ($10.00) - so it cannot be described as anything other than a bargain. Isn't it gorgeous?

Now I wonder where it came from? Is it wishful thinking to suspect that it could possibly be Venice? (Perhaps Mauro Vianello would know!)

A Quiet Afternoon Out?

The 'John Barleycorn' Pub, Goring upon Thames

Liz & I needed a 'running away day' today...so off we went, just for the afternoon, on what was intended to be a quiet ramble to the gardens of Englefield House, near Reading. 'Quiet' turned out to be a major misnomer - for within 20 minutes we had been stopped on the main Newbury to Reading road by a heavy horse foal, which was loose and causing chaos, but brilliantly coralled by two drivers, a bus - placed diagonally across the road, which prevented traffic moving forward, and a fearless policewoman.

Then we were diverted away from the gardens by a road closure.

So off we went, directed seriously 'the long way round', through Kate Middleton-land, aiming for the twin villages of Goring and Streatley, one on either side of the river Thames. We know of an interesting little antique shop in Goring, where we did indeed find some little treasures, (I'll show you those tomorrow) and then took a stroll around the village, into the delectable art gallery (today selling mostly wildlife art), and down to the river. Here are some more of the old houses in Goring...

The 'Miller of Mansfield' Pub

The village grocers

Charming gothic windows in a private house

and here are a few glimpses of the beautiful riverside walk that we took... wouldn't you like to live in the house on the other side, with a garden right down to the water?

Streatley Hill

  Traditional narrowboats and 'floating gin palaces' on the river

Another *very* desirable Goring residence...with a barge at the bottom of the garden (and needing a paint-job!)

The Old Mill at Goring

I decided to avoid the diversions on the way back by taking the route up to Wantage and over the Berkshire Downs. This gave us the opportunity to visit (yet another) garden and antiques centre, but then..lo and behold, yet another road diversion.

Up over the Downs at last...only to have a buzzard attempt a kamikaze approach down onto my car, missing my windscreen by only a foot or two (do you know just how BIG one of those birds looks when they are about to land on top of you?!).

Then, just as a final flourish, my (new to me) car decided to show off one of its gadgets by bleeping at me to signal low petrol. Actually it was a very early warning, I still had many miles in the tank. It put a final end to any idea that it had been a quiet afternoon out - but with my dear friend Liz, it had, as always, been a happy one.

Making it Clere - Again

Having visited Highclere last week, today I'd like to share with you just one or two images of another of the Clere villages...this time Burghclere - which is also very close to where I live. Here is the peaceful church and churchyard - and as so often happens, here is a tiny grave which I spotted, hidden under an old yew tree, that really touched my heart. The fabric flowers and china angels are faded now - but the old tree has obviously protected the hand made memorial stone, commemorating the incumbent of the grave, who died in 1946. A simple stone, but lovingly crafted.

Burghclere is also the location of the Sandham Memorial Chapel, famous for its interior, which is painted with vivid murals of the Salonica campaign of World War 1 by the artist Stanley Spencer. I highly recommend a visit to this small National Trust property - and for any of my visiting friends... an email to me will ensure the kettle boiling and a cup of tea when you pass!

I did not go in yesterday, however, as I had spotted this produce stall in the garden of a house nearby...

This is just one of the nicest parts of village life in the summer, with 'pop-up' stalls selling all sorts of produce. I came home with three plants - a grapefruit mint, an Artemisia, and a sempervivum, and a punnet of those red, red tomatoes on the bottom shelf, which are just the sweetest tomatoes I have tasted here in the UK this year. I have rationed myself and family, and we have savoured each and every one.

Summer time, and the living is easy...and bargain priced, if you shop at the village stalls!

Burnings, Butterflies and Beauty

Today, I offer butterflies...

Butterflies on the Buddleia in the herb garden at Autumn Cottage

...and beauty

Pathway through the trees, aross the road in Great Pen Wood

as an antidote to the images of my country that have dominated the news for the last few days...the riots and the burnings

in London and elsewhere - pots that have boiled over...

I have written - and deleted - my thoughts on the causes of the riots. In place of those rambling thoughts, I offer just peaceful images - for all those who have been affected, whether traumatised by fear, or doubled up with shame.

But I offer images and wishes of peace for the perpetrators also.

For I reckon that with a return to experience of, and regular immersion in the natural world, there might just be a chance that the anger, and the violence, the sense of resentment, greed, and abdication of personal responsibility might just start to dissipate, as they discover a place of belonging, where contribution from each individual is needed - and VALUED. If they - and we - could all start to feel part of a whole, inter-dependent Universe...don't you think there might just be the glimmer of hope that things could get better?

Visit Pangur-Ban - a blogging Druid whose words I admire - for images and expressions of a philosophy which I believe can be deeply healing for all of us.

 

Art in the Garden 2011

One of the numerous pieces of sculpture displayed in this summer's 'Art in the Garden' at the Harold Hillier Gardens near Romsey. This piece I would particularly love to site in my own garden - a metallic acorn, a metre or so in length, with the contrast of rough outside 'rusty' metal, and the polished inner silvered surface. Imagine coming across this in some shady corner!

And the Rain it Raineth.....

  Historiated initial letters designed by Stephen Gooden, A.R.A., for 'Aesops Fables', published by Harrop

Higher than expected rainfall this weekend, (for which read 'torrential downpours'!), after a hot and humid beginning to August, so your Roving Reporter is not out and about in the countryside, as promised...but doing what I always do in the countryside when it rains...turning to a book!

Today it is an interesting book entitled 'The Art of the Book', produced as a special edition of 'The Studio' in 1938. it covers the printers arts of typesetting and layout, and also explores the design and publishing philosophies of some of the private presses in the UK at that time. This is done by means of including separate whole individual pages from some of the books under discussion, eclectically bound in to the main publication.

Here are just a few of the pages from the book - each with a somewhat bucolic theme - for you to enjoy on this thundery afternoon.

 

Wood engravings by V. Favorsky, to illustrate 'Animal Stories' by Leo Tolstoy, printed for the Russian Academia by Goznak of Moscow.

The sensitively depicted portrait of a tramp, one of the beautiful woodcuts carved by one of my favourite illustrators, the artist Claire Leighton, for 'Country Matters', printed by the Camelot Press in Southampton.

  Wood engravings for  by Mary Groom for 'Paradise Lost', printed by the Golden Cockerel Press.

 

The Best Weddings Are All About....

Flowers...

and friends...

...cupcakes!

Party hats and dresses...

But most of all, they are about good people finding happiness together :-)

(Jane & Ross, Hungerford Town Hall, 5th August 2011)