Whimsies and Wentworth wooden puzzles

Those of you who love doing jigsaw puzzles may be interested to know that Wentworth puzzles have included "sleeping hedgehog" in their latest Autumn Catalogue. Wentworth makes wooden jigsaws, which are rather unusual as they contain special “Whimsies” pieces. These are puzzle pieces cut into the shape of an object, for example a garden themed jigsaw would have some pieces cut in the shape of a garden tool, a plant, a gardener leaning on a spade etc. Nowadays these puzzles are cut by laser but in the past they were cut by using a jigsaw, what else? It took ages before I made that connection. The “whimsies” were so called because they were cut on a whim.

As jigsaw puzzles go, these are quite expensive items but they are made to last and should provide hours of pleasure to generations. Some of them even achieve a cult-like status and become collector’s items, changing hands for very high prices.

When I was a child I had a jigsaw puzzle, which had a picture of ice skaters in an ice rink. I have the image firmly fixed in my mind; I must have stared at each piece for so many hours on rainy afternoons. It was my job to collect together all the straight edged pieces, paying particular attention to those precious corner pieces. I loved those special times when my father, brother or sister would join in and finish a bit for me. I even remember the doctor calling by and helping! I wonder what became of that puzzle?

Irish Music and Children's Ballet.

Alan Cutts is an Irish musician and composer who, amongst other things, has created a musical interpretation of “White is the Moon”. Alan composed the music for a fifteen minute ballet designed for young players ranging from grade 3 to grade 8.
This musical extravaganza was first performed at the Wexford Festival in 1993 by the Wexford School of Music and the Wexford School of Ballet and Modern Dance.

As luck would have it I did not get the chance to attend so can only imagine the evening, how I wish I had a time machine! Alan now tells me that he has a website and has made the music available- in script form only… sigh. However he has promised that he will, one day, make an audio file so I live in hope.

I felt deeply honoured that my little book inspired a musician, many of the images were in turn inspired by the landscape and wildlife of Eire so it was pleasant to consider the work being performed in Wexford.

If you visit his website you can hear some of his audio files, I have been smitten by the heavenly choral music Suantrai (Irish Lulaby), such exquisite singing, well worth a visit.

Pure Joy!

Look what came in the post, I was the lucky winner of Joy's blog giveaway and now I am the proud owner of this lovely painting. This is the first year as far as I can remember when we have not ventured to the coast but this colourful harbour painting will be a pleasant reminder of happy days spent pottering around fishing villages in Britain and Ireland. I have already found a place for it in my bathroom, next to a print which I bought in St Ives.

Joy also has some lovely work on her art blog, I especially like her colouful narrative style which has a joyous quality, which is just what you would expect from an artist called Joy!

In search of bees.

Much has changed at The Natural History Museum since our last visit, although thankfully the building itself remains unchanged. Outside it is all Victorian splendour, a fantastically ornate building designed by Alfred Waterhouse. Inside the building the space has been divided into zones and on a hot and crowded school holiday I found the experience rather claustrophobic. I had hoped to look at bumblebees and felt sure that I would be able to find a display of the various British varieties native to our countryside. Maybe such a thing exists but I could not find it in the newly formed zonal exhibition areas.



All was not lost however as we found a wonderful green oasis in the wildlife garden, complete with many species of wild flowers, trees, insects and a beautiful pond filled with water lilies, moorhens and dragonflies, oh yes and bees! Real live bumblebees feeding on teasels, definitely worth a visit. Sadly my attempt at photographing the bees failed so I have not included them in the post.



Whilst I am on the subject of bees, you can read about the work that the Bumblebee Conservation Trust is doing by visiting this blog. Nikki is in charge of a project, which is trying to reintroduce the “Short –haired” bumblebee back into Britain.

Inspiration Wednesday.

Our dear friend Weaver of Grass has suggested this meme so here is my contribution. So many people are inspirational, my family, my fellow bloggers, artists, craftsmen, writers, musicians, not to mention places, nature, etc. I had great difficulty in concentrating on one theme but in the end I narrowed it down to the work of one man, Robin Tanner 1904-1988.

Ever since I first learnt about Robin Tanner and saw his work, I have been drawn back again and again into his quiet, intense and artistic world, he is a constant source of inspiration to me. An artist driven by a deep appreciation of nature who had a complete disregard of commerce.

Robin was an educator and an expert illustrator and etcher; inspired by the natural world he created work of such exquisite beauty that they can move me to tears. He in turn was inspired by other inspirational artists notably Samuel Palmer and William Morris.

You can view his work here.

His etchings started as drawings, closely observed from nature. Every tiny centimeter of the surface was covered by the tiniest of details, giving the final work great intensity and magic, he had the ability to contain a whole world in a few inches, often viewed from a mouse’s perspective.

Together with his wife Heather, they created a masterpiece called “Woodland Plants” which they embarked upon in 1940, it was to take another four decades before it finally appeared in print in 1981. He said of this work “it proved the greatest solace… to explore with my pencil the gentle intricacies of twayblade, the subtle forms of wild columbine and martagon lily, and all the patterned veinings and flower symmetry and infinite variety of textures in the generally unnoticed, the self-effacing plants, like sanicle and dog’s mercury, cow wheat and enchanter’s nightshade, spurge laurel and moschatel.”

You can view more work here-

I managed to find a copy of his autobiography, “Double Harness” which I can wholeheartedly recommend; it is both an excellent read and is illustrated with many of his extraordinary inspirational, lyrical works.

Stormy weather

All together now---"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but inside it's so delightful, and we really don't even mind, because today we're going to bookbind".

The rain has put a stop to any plans we might have had to get our garden in order so I have been doing a spot of bookbinding. I bought some lovely old sage grey/green book cloth ages ago and it has been sitting looking at me from the corner of my room waiting for a bookbinding day. I wasn't quite sure what I would do with it, somehow it just took shape. I had some pre-cut pieces of board which I covered and backed with Khadi paper. I lined a third piece of cloth with a black, handmade paper which has little pink petals in the fibers, this piece formed the spine. I cut and folded the signatures to make a four sections which I sewed onto the spine with linen thread.

I love all the paraphernalia associated with bookbinding and have been slowly gathering bits and pieces of equipment over the years. Needles, linen thread, beeswax, bone folders, I simple cannot resist buying them when I get the chance as you can see if you click on the photographs.



You can see the finished book here.

The moon and our little star!

As you might have gathered by now, I have a bit of an obsession with the moon. I think that there is no more magical a sight than a full moon in a clear sky. The first time I ever looked at the moon through an ordinary pair of binoculars I was astounded at how very round it appeared! I love the way the moon appears to change its shape, sometimes a crescent, sometimes a half circle then a full circle. It has such a mystery and a majestic quality about it, the fact that a day on the moon lasts about two weeks, the fact that it has a dark side which we will never see, the way it influences the tides and possibly behavior, all add to its poetry and mystique.

I have been enjoying all the wonderful television and radio programs dedicated to the moon and in particular the moon landings. I am sure those of you who grew up in the sixties will have vivid memories of watching the moon landings on television. When I was little I used to visit a very old lady in her late nineties, she was appalled at the idea that men would land on the moon. She said that the moon was put there by God to light the way for lovers and it was folly to send space ships and rockets there. In the days before street lights a clear moonlight night afforded extra opportunities for “walking out” as she called it. She had memories of soldiers who were sent oversees to fight and who found solace in the fact that the moon that they could see was the same moon that their sweethearts could see at home.

When our children were little they loved to look at the moon, I think that was also one of the first words they said. “I see the moon, the moon sees me” was a favourite rhyme in our house and was the inspiration behind “White is the moon”. When our eldest son first learnt to talk he would say things like “look moon, see my kickerballer boots” I am not sure what the moon replied!

When I first started this blog I decided not to make it too personal and so I try to resist the temptation of posting family photo’s, however I am sure you will understand that some events are just too exciting not to mention. We joined the ranks of proud parents this week as we went to our youngest son’s graduation ceremony. Here is our “Sweet Baby James” all grown up and looking very smart in his new suit.