Yesterday our Collared Dove left her nest so Phil took a quick snap with his phone…
Our first new babies! Here’s hoping the Jackdaws don’t spot them.
The doves from above
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Old red-eyes is back
A Collared Dove has made her precarious nest of a few twigs, amongst the honeysuckle on top of our trellis archway. She is sitting on two eggs.
A trio of gardens in Armathwaite
We’re opening our garden at The Faulds in conjunction with Hazel Cottage and Coombe Eden on 2nd and 3rd June For the National Garden Scheme, which supports healthcare charities.
Combined admission is £5 per adult and children free. Home made cakes and teas are available at Hazel cottage and we have plants for sale. Some of Phil’s fantastic art work will also be on display. We’d love to see you!
Befur ….. and after
Yesterday the dogs got their coats stripped. Poor Rigsby was struggling to see through his eyebrows and hasn’t been able to negotiate the stairs, which is tricky when we live in an upside down house, so for the last fortnight we’ve been carrying him up. Shackleton has also taken full advantage of Rigsby’s visual impairment, to sneak in and grab his carrots from under his nose.
Today he’s like a different dog and was first up the stairs to get his carrot!
Remembrance 100 exhibition
Great news! Both of Phil’s works have been accepted and will be two of the 100 selected artworks to be showcased in the Remembrance 100 exhibition at Carlisle Castle. The exhibition starts on 21st May and ends 2nd September.
‘Hope and Glory ‘ is a thought provoking painting and here is the narrative Phil submitted with his work:
‘Swifts screeching overhead herald the arrival of summer, returning each year to a landscape shaped by our ancestors. The country church nestled amid prehistoric earth works and medieval field patterns.
My childhood free from the traumas of war, minor cuts and bruises cured with a mother’s kiss, Germolene and sticking plaster.
Echoes of The Battle of Britain above the Kent coast, remind us of the sacrifice of others, who made this possible.
Many less fortunate, fleeing the horrors of their war-torn homelands look out across the English Channel, wondering whether this green and pleasant land will offer them sanctuary too.’
Part of the iconic ceramic poppy installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper which honours Britains war heroes who died 100 years ago is also heading to Carlisle Castle. It was first seen at the Tower of London and the original commission consisted of 888,246 poppies – one to commemorate every British or Colonial life lost at the front during the First World War.
The two sculptures ‘Weeping Window’ and ‘Wave’ containing 11,000 of the poppies are touring the UK. ‘Weeping Window’ will cascade from the top of the castle keep for 6 weeks from 23rd May until 8th July.
Lest we forget….
This week Phil submitted work to be considered for the Remembrance 100 – Open Art Exhibition, which is being hosted at Carlisle Castle, 21st May – 2nd Sept 2018.
2018 marks 100 years since the end of the First World War and this Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition will consist of 100 selected artworks which have been made as a creative response to the theme of ‘Remembrance’. 2018 is the centenary of end of the First World War and the start of Remembrance as we know it today.
The brief was to consider the impact of Remembrance and to reflect on the question ‘What does Remembrance mean to me?’
During the First World War, Phil’s Grandfather had served in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 1st Class, aboard the Iron Duke Super Dreadnought-class ship HMS Marlborough.
At 18.17 on 31st May 1916, HMS Marlborough fired the opening salvos in the naval engagement with the German High Seas Fleet at Jutland. At 18.39 the Marlborough was struck by a torpedo fired by the German Cruiser Wiesbaden, tearing a 28 foot hole in the hull, about 20 feet below the waterline. The Marlborough continued in the battle at reduced speed and was eventually escorted by HMS Fearless to the Humber for temporary repairs.
Two of the crew of the Marlborough were killed during the course of the action;
Edgar George Monk – Stoker 1st Class
William Rustage – Stoker 1st Class
Jutland. ‘Our children shall understand when our fate was changed and by whose hand.’ The Verdicts by Rudyard Kipling
Phil painted this picture in the 1990’s having been inspired by an oil painting of the Marlborough by his Uncle Norman. After he died, Phil was offered his oil paints, brushes and easels and when he went to collect them, saw for the first time a detailed pencil drawing of the Marlborough by his Grandfather who had served on her. The drawing was completed at Devonport Dock and is dated 1914.
Mite or might not be…
I spotted this little critter while pulling weeds from between the slabs outside our front door in early spring. It’s a Clover mite: Bryobia Praetiosa
Clover mites are 0.75–0.85 mm (0.030–0.033 in) long, oval shaped arachnids with a pair of long legs pointing forward often mistaken for antennae. Apparently they can be pests and can infiltrate houses in large numbers, however this one was alone and happily munching on the weeds. Keep up the good work!
Copt Howe boulder-A
Beneath the tree to the left is a group of large boulders of volcanic ash deposited by glaciers at the end of the last ice age. It stands between Great Langdale Beck and the road that leads west to the axe factory at the Pike of Stickle, amongst the Langdale Pikes seen in the distance. On the eastern face of the rock are a complex series of carvings that consist of several groups of concentric rings with some linear grooves and groups of micro-cups.
What is amazing is that despite the fact that the boulder is popular with climbers and the whole area popular with walkers and holiday makers these late Neolithic or Bronze Age carvings were not recognised as such until as recently as 1999.
It is thought that this site was linked in some way with the nearby axe factory; the Langdale Beck valley would have made an easy route eastwards for the transportation of the axe blanks and it could even be the case that the carvings represent a stylised map of the peaks and features of the area.
Stonecircles.org
Metal leaf, coloured ink and beeswax on watercolour paper.
Stars of last week’s show
Only one week until our next NGS open garden event.
Our visitors last week were particularly interested in two of our unusual specimens;
Sinocalycalycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’
Dwarf Horse Chestnut, Aesculus Pavia ‘Koehnei’
And not forgetting Shackleton.
Here’s hoping for better weather!
Rain didn’t stop play
Saturday we opened the garden in support of the National Gardens Scheme.
The day had a promising start with bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky but the humidity heralded the torrential rain and thunder storm that was to hit mid-afternoon.
Some came armed with umbrellas and rain coats and some with nothing but a positive attitude and much laughter as they resigned themselves to getting absolutely soaked through!
Huge thanks to The Pot Place for loaning five ’emergency’ hanging baskets. We had ordered some self watering ‘cup and saucer’ ones which have an inbuilt reservoir and only require watering twice a week, but they didn’t arrive and the courtyard wouldn’t have looked as good without the lovely flowers.
Thanks go to Phil’s Mum who helped with last minute weeding, tidying and ticket sales and his Dad who counted legs, divided by two and kept the visitors entertained in the garden.
Thanks also to our lovely friends who paid to come in although they have seen the garden many times before.
We turned the summerhouse into a pop-up gallery to display some of Phil’s work.
And we get to do it all again for NGS on Sunday 11th June 12-5pm … hope to see you then!
thebuzzshelter 