Pilgrim

Look closely

You might remember the poem "Footpaths" by Ebenezer Elliott. I posted it on Monday of this week.

You may also remember that I referred to Elliott's Rock and my ambition to find it. Allegedly, back in the 1830's, he would walk out of the city to a secret place by a tumbling stream  where he found peace for contemplation and the churning of creative juices.. There was a particular rock in the stream upon which it is claimed that he carved his own surname: ELLIOTT.

Well, I found that rock after carefully making my way down a precipitous path to the bottom of a little V-shaped valley that carries Black Brook down to The River Rivelin.

If Ebenezer did carve his name, it would have been one hundred and eighty years ago. Though the stream ran gently today there will have been many occasions when water flowed over Elliott's Rock with frothing ferocity.

Because of this, the carved name is not as clear as it once was and I am sure that in another fifty or sixty years it will be totally illegible.

I sat for a while in that verdant dell, beside the babbling brook making observational  notes as a cloud of tiny may flies danced upon the water's surface in a shaft of amber sunlight.

With Clint's kind co-operation, I decided to press on with my Elliott-inspired adventure and headed back into the city. I made for 22 Blakegrove Road in the Upperthorpe area. It is where Elliott lived between 1834 and 1841 and there is a blue plaque there to confirm that fact. He didn't own the house - he just rented it. In the early 1980's I visited the house several times. A man called Bill lived there with his disabled wife. He was a leading light in The British Humanist Society and we were friends for a while.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/2TcR8CK

Siân Owen’s clock

 

There is one historic painting that is synonymous with Wales and the Welsh culture and that is the Edwardian watercolour Salem painted, strange as it may seem, by an Englishman Sydney Curnow Vosper. 

I first saw a copy of the painting when I was around 18 , where it was proudly displayed in the house of an old girlfriend of mine. Her father was a Welsh Minister and the subject matter, the arrival (late) of a welsh woman Siân Owen to chapel is iconic for it is a depiction of  Welsh religious piety as well as a beautiful rendition of Welsh traditional dress. 

It’s also more famous for it’s suggested depiction of the devil’s face, hidden in the folds of Siân’s rather luxurious shawl. This “ hidden” message was only one of three or so said to present in the painting . 

The clock on the wall hints that Siân’s entry to her family pew is  late and and it’s is said that her beautifully adorned entrance is a comment about pride and ostentatious dress.

If you look closely there is also a ghostly face at the chapel window too. 

I have seen the painting at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight a few years ago so I understood the reference to the artist and to Siân Owen when villager elder Gwyneth Jones once stood in my front room waiting for me to wrap her some duck eggs into a brown paper bag and I remember well that she pointed to my grandfather clock and said in her thin welsh voice

“ It’s the clock in the painting “ she explained “ The sister painting to Salem” 

The painting she was referring to is “ A Market Day in Old Wales” which shows Siân Owen unpacking eggs and provisions in her welsh country kitchen and in the corner is my Grandfather clock complete with scrolls and pillars 

The Clock’s  scrolls are hidden by the beams 

:

My cottage ceiling is somewhat higher but still shows the beams 

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/Efe053I

Pray

 What can I pray for today?  How are you my friends?

from R's rue https://rsrue.blogspot.com/2022/05/pray.html

Accessories

 

A quiet day today, as CBM is off taking his missus to the airport.

No more Whitney Houston no more Pet Shop Boys belting out in a Geordie accent.

The sun is out but there is a cool breeze and the cottage windows are wide front and back making the honeysuckle curtains in the front room sway energetically.

I left the ignition on in Bluebell  yesterday so had a flat battery this morning. 

As usual Islwyn came to the  rescue and jump started her for me. 

I gave Bluebell a good run, and recharged nicely dropped in to the garden centre for a final smooch for bathroom accessories like any middle aged gay man worth his salt would do.

To add to the black and white theme, I bought  some houseplants and planters there, a penguin designed toothbrush and some “bespoke” soap were delivered from Amazon today

It’s all a bit much I know, but I don’t care, I’m having fun.

My elder sister popped around yesterday with sweet pea plants, hostas and tomato plants which I will put into the garden this afternoon. She also bought me A White Company scented candle for the new bathroom. 

Quite a few people are getting vicarious pleasures from this makeover…

Hey ho. 

Ps it’s my fifth day post positive swab today ….it’s negative I have to test again tomorrow 

from Going Gently https://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2022/05/accessories.html