Anvils under the Hammer

Yesterday afternoon news reached me that our village blacksmith (click the link to read about over a hundred years of  his family business in our village) was selling up, everything in his forge and workshops was up for auction - NOW!

He is an elderly man with no one to take over the business, so I can fully understand his reasons, but I also felt a little sad at the loss of yet another traditional trade from our tiny village.

Ninety-six year old John, the beekeeper, recently visited us to borrow a book which I had previously lent to him...an 1898 account book for a village blacksmith's business.     He wanted to show it to his friend,  the blacksmith.

How could I refuse?   

Besides, who better to peruse the old entries than these two chaps, both of whom are nearly as old as the book and to whom the old terms and old farming equipment would have been so familiar.

They had a wonderful time poring over the book together and were able to decipher some of the stranger terms and to explain how things were done all that time ago.

The old and rusty equipment, covered in so many layers of dirt and dust was wonderful to behold.

I love the old and worn metal work,  the grain of the wood which has silvered and worn.

This equipment was used for making wheels.

Keith, our local village pub landlord, found this old knife, it is bone handled and has seen a lot of use.

Our wonderful Railway Tavern often gets a mention in posts, here is one.
We have lost our Post Office, village shop, butcher's shop,

the village school
and now the village blacksmith.

Luckily,
we still have the pub and the village hall.

As we left,  prospective purchasers were pouring in.

I didn't want to stay and watch.

x

The Owl and the Pussycats

Yesterday evening I decided to try to photograph the Barn Owl 

who regularly patrols the boundary of our garden.      

I stood next to the big ash tree in the corner

and waited...  

?the same Barn Owl - a photograph I took last year
near the fish ponds opposite Owl Wood.

It was cold and flying insects were feasting on me.

 I could hear the rustle of creatures moving through the wheat field margins.

Rats, I imagined, especially as I had seen a medium-sized one run through the garden earlier.
However, I stuck to my post, determined to get a great photograph.  

Bennie investigating the rustling sounds.

The cats appeared from nowhere and wouldn't leave me.

Sparky performed circus tricks on 

the fence posts while

Bennie sniffed around the garden.

Toby Too watched from the conservatory,

desperate to join in.

I ignored him.

"I can do this standing on my head, watch..."

Eventually even the cats got bored and moved away.

On any normal night the Barn Owl would have flown down one side of the garden,

turned at the big ash tree

and then swooped up and down the wheat field

hunting for supper.

"This is boring, I'm going in."

I gave up after an hour.

I was cold, frustrated, bitten to pieces by those darned insects.

Today, I got up early and

saw to the hens, the cats and the dog

and then made myself a hot drink

and went into the conservatory

to think about the day ahead.

Five minutes later, the Barn Owl suddenly

 flew around  the conservatory,

across the vegetable garden,

past the old summer house

and disappeared into 

Owl Wood!

I borrowed this illustration from the RSPB
'My' owl is much lighter in colour
and every bit as beautiful.

It was amazing.

S/he was no more than six feet away from me,

I got to see her in great detail.

A beautiful bird.

Of course I had no camera to hand.

Happy Monday.

x

King Canute and the Chocolate Cake

Meet

"Remarkable Oak"

remarkable, because it is reputed to be over one thousand years old.

Remarkable Oak stands in farmland
 not the easiest tree to get close to, for photography purposes,
(Well, that's my excuse.)
for it grows in a meadow right next door to a red brick Tudor mansion.
The fence is electrified.

I had intended to take a photograph during the winter, 

while the tree was bare...

King of the forest, father of trees
Bare branches antlering the winter sky

alas, I forgot.

So, here is Remarkable Oak a clothéd all in green.

It is definitely not the tallest tree, nor does it have the most amazing canopy span,
but check out that girth,  middle-age spread, and then some.
Through the years it has suffered, bits have fallen off,
one thousand years is an awfully long time.
Even viewed from the roadside,
or the adjacent field,
it looks ancient.

This is the earliest Ordnance Survey map of the area, it shows a 'Remarkable Oak' standing in this very spot.
It was drawn two hundred years ago.

Even the current map shows the remarkable old oak tree.

If it truly is a thousand years old - think King Canute (Cnut),
The Norman Conquest, The Domesday Book...
and everything else from thereon in.

Allowing for exaggeration (surely not!)
even if this tree is a mere youngster of 500 years
it has been standing
since around the time Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon... then Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour,
Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.

It stood tall while the English Civil War took place,
watched over the Agricultural Revolution,
and far too many wars and battles,


However old this wonderful oak tree is, it is a youngster, compared to
the Fortingall Yew which is between two and five thousand years old!

This beautiful engraving of a mighty oak is by Andy English.

Oak trees are thought to attract lightning more than any other kind of tree,
they also survive it rather better,
possibly due to the extremely long tap root which anchors it to the earth.

The acorn
is said to represent
long life and good luck
and an acorn placed on a windowsill
is thought to offer protection.


Because the oak is one of the longest-lived trees it is associated with
endurance and stability.

It was traditionally used for ship building...
"Heart of Oak are our Ships
Jolly Tars are our men..."

If you are wondering where the chocolate cake fits in...
well, I baked it at the weekend.

It was amazing!
Deep, dark, chocolate flavour.
I rarely bake cakes,
but this one was worth the effort,
and the calories.