Flutterby Patch

At home with wood

Wood is in my blood so to speak; let me explain...

I come from a long line of Buckinghamshire farming folk and the leafy lanes and beech woods in that county have for centuries molded each and every one of us. If they weren't working the land then several of my ancestors would have been working with wood. Some of them would have set up home amongst the trees in little wooden shacks like this one.

Everything was done by hand in those far off days and work continued from dawn until dusk.

Branches were cut from trees and stripped of their bark and as a result mountains of wood chips lay everywhere.

The men who worked in this way were known as bodgers and their pole lathes would have been spinning and whirring all day long. After many hours of turning, shaping and piecing together the results of their labours would have been Windsor chairs not unlike like this one. What amazing craftsmanship.

I treasure several old Windsor chairs that were made by my great uncle as a wedding gift for my grandparents but for this post I have used this miniature version which is an exact replica of rather splendid chairs that were made with arms. (Teddy is 7 inches tall ).

I now live in the Lake District which is many miles from my home amid the beech woods of Buckinghamshire but for centuries bodgers would have been busy working in the Lakeland woods also. They didn't make chairs but turned wooden bobbins and their livelihoods relied entirely on the success of the neighbouring Lancashire cotton mills. Bobbins were required in their millions and the process was soon mechanised. Stott Park Bobbin Mill is the last remaining Victorian mill with its machinery still in working order. It is open to visitors and demonstrations take place each day.

Vintage bobbins that were once used in cotton mills are now being made into decorative items for the tourist industry. Visitors to this area love to take home little 'bobbin built' keepsakes like this little model of a steam traction engine (my Mum couldn't resist this when she saw it!)

The wooden objects on display around my home come in all shapes, sizes and colours. For this post I have chosen a few turned pieces to show you.  My granny used the items above in her farm kitchen. The butter mold in the centre has a very elaborate crest.

I'd love to know its origin.

This Victorian inkwell and drinking vessel are turned from one of the heaviest wood of all known as lignum vitae

How fortunate I am to have met and married a sweet man who loves wood as much as I do. He occasionally buys me little wooden pieces like these. The plate is oak, the cup and saucer ash and the tea canister and scoop are made from sycamore. I love them all.

So you see, wood is in my blood... My dad taught woodwork in his school and was a master cabinet maker. From an early age I was taught not only how to recognise different trees but how to recognise different woods also. And so I'll end this post with a little poem by H E Palmer. The message, I think, is a very poignant one.

Woodworker's Ballad 

All that is molded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honour’d of Zion
Are most of them made from wood.

Stone can be chisell’d to Beauty,
And iron shines bright for Defence;
But when Mother Earth ponder’d her duty
She brought forth the forest, from whence

Come tables, and chairs, and crosses,
Little things that a hot fire warps,
Old ships that the blue wave tosses,
And fiddles for music, and harps;

Oak boards where the carved ferns mingle,
Monks’ shrines in the wilderness,
Snug little huts in the dingle,
All things that the sad poets bless.

King Arthur had a wood table;
And Our Lord blessed wood; for, you see,
He was born in a wooden stable,
And He died on a wooden tree;

And He sailed in a wooden vessel
On the waters of Galilee,
And He work’d at a wooden trestle
At His wonderful carpentry.

Oh, all that is molded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honour’d of Zion
Are most of them made from wood.

Herbert Edward Palmer (1880 - 1961)

Jolly fun

What fun it would be in these days of economic gloom and the credit crunch (good name for a biscuit don't you think) to be able to make whatever you needed from a cardboard box, scissors and some sticky tape. 

Take this little house for instance. It has a splendid front door and two little windows with the prettiest red and white check curtains. Who could ask for more!

But how would you feel if one day you returned to your house to find a glassy blue eye watching you from one of the windows? Would you, I wonder, recognise the owner of that eye?

Well yes, you probably would if you had read 'Jolly Tall' the wonderful little story for children written and illustrated by the very talented Jane Hissey. 

In the story the toys find a cardboard box and draw a door and windows in it to make a house. But when they cut out the windows they find a very tall furry giraffe inside and they name him Jolly Tall (because he is).

After several attempts to get him out of the box the toys use a little red crane which successfully does the job with only a few spills along the way. 

My daughter and I are huge fans of Jane Hissey's stories about Old Bear and his friends and, as you can see, we have collected a number of the cute characters from the books over the years.

If I didn't think you'd seen more than enough snow this year already I could have told you about the book entitled 'Jolly Snow'. In this story the toys long for some of the magical white stuff to fall from the sky but when it doesn't they try making it from flour, pieces of cut paper and even soap bubbles. Eventually they settle for some fun sledging down a white sheet obligingly held high by Jolly Tall. (Yet another cardboard box has come in useful you'll notice!)

If you have any cardboard boxes left at the end of the day you could try making a train just like the toys have done in the book about a little dog named 'Ruff'.

Many of you I'm sure will be very familiar with Jane Hissey's stories for children. The illustrations are wonderful and all the characters in the books are kind and friendly to each other. No one gets hurt and no one is ever unhappy. There is however plenty of action and excitement in the playroom, and best of all plenty of simple play ideas for young children to imitate and enjoy. As you might have guessed by now, I love all Jane Hissey's books and feel sure you would too!

Until next time,

Eli

No shortage of stone

Recently we've seen the prettiest frozen goose feathers gently drifting down from the sky which have magically transformed the garden for a few hours before melting away to leave us with unwelcome muddy puddles.

These stone steps winding their way up from the drive to our back door make a pretty picture in the snow but the white blanket hides the stone wall alongside that has been badly in need of repair for some time. My husband is impatient to get on with this job as he enjoys building walls and in this mountainous region we are never short of suitable stone.

Today he got just the right weather window and made a start.

In no time at all he'd removed the rickety old wall and had set about digging foundations for a new one. At the bottom left hand corner of the picture you can see natural rock. This will give you some idea of just how shallow our soil can be here.

Hubby does a quick survey of the work done whilst I point out the plants that are just beginning to show signs of growth (a gentle hint for him to take care where he is thrusting his spade). Daffodils, foxglove, saxifrage (we know it as London Pride), valerian, lysimachia, and some rogue ferns that pop up in any available spot. Many plants won't tolerate the north facing aspect of this little bed but needless to say I have a few planting plans for the area once work is finished!

At the bottom of the steps we look back towards the house. This single story extension was done in 1994 and has given us a very useful computer room/office and a utility room.

The new extension adjoins the kitchen which is in the main house. You can see the kitchen window with the red bird feeder hanging in front of it.

There is a long 'crazy paving' stone path down this side of the house. Made from local slate, it gets a coating of algae over the winter and is therefore very slippery when damp. My husband attacked the algae with the pressure washer last week which helped but you still have to take care when walking on the path in wet weather.

 At the end of this path you reach the terrace which overlooks the lawn. Across the lawn another path takes you to a long flight of stone steps that winds down to the bottom of the garden; but I'll leave that for another day. Meanwhile birds are merrily chirping in the trees and are obviously confident that spring is on the way. I wish it would hurry along!