Apologies for pauses, crackles and tongue trippages - I record this voiceover in one attempt to escape any perfectionism!
Hello, how has your week been?
Firstly, apologies to those of you who enjoy the audio version of my letters, I quite forgot to record one last week in my excitement at the prospect of the orphan lambs’ arrival. I’ve remembered today!
The Lambs
Oh the lambs, George and Nancy, are just so sweet.
Enthusiastic bleating greets me from behind the stable door as I approach, it sounds to my ears increasingly desperate my footsteps draw nearer and I slide the bolts to enter. The two dear little black faces greet me and a little jostling and shuffling takes places as they latch onto their bottles and begin furiously sucking. To drain their bottles takes no more than a few minutes and the curious snuffling and leaping around that follows is more than adequate reward for the bottle making malarky and midnight expeditions to the stable. I’m so glad they have one another for if there was just one I fear I’d be tempted to either bring it indoors, or move into the stable myself!
I have just jumped back into bed after the first feed of the day and, feeling a tickle around my neck, have removed a piece of hay from the top of my pyjamas! It is a glorious morning here, though there is a light frost on the ground the sky is blue and the sun is beginning to hit the garden; the shadow of a large bay in the hedge on next door’s wall is my wind indicator in the mornings, today it is still, not even a gentle breeze to make it dance.
The last few afternoons, when our eldest daughter has arrived home from work, we’ve let them out into the the top of the field for a little gambolling and springing before luring them back into the stable with their bottles. I have desperately tried to catch them on camera, but it would take the reactions of a sighthound to keep up with them. Speaking of such, Gertie is unsurprisingly more than a little interested in them, we have introduced them and she gently sniffs from the other side of a hurdle, but I’m not confident enough to let them meet without a decent barrier between them.
It’s funny, I’ve mentioned many times before about how difficult I find it to introduce myself, here in particular, but I don’t think I’ve ever used ‘animal lover’ as one of my descriptors. And yet, I suppose it is very much a part of me for no matter how resolutely I tell myself that life is less complicated without them, pets are very much part of my life. I think one of my favourite things about being a dog owner is the incidental social interaction with other dog walkers, I’ve had some fascinating conversations completely unrelated to dogs as a result of stopping to say hello and the brief encounters are often the most sociable part of my day.
Anyhow, I’m very much enjoying George and Nancy, but perhaps all the more for knowing that they’re not really mine and that when I go on holiday next weekend I can hand back the responsibility.
Whose job is it anyway?
It’s cold in the house as I write this, while I’m sure there are many hardy souls out there who have already switched off their central heating I can’t claim that our lack of heat is anything but my own fault. I forgot to check the oil tank. It’s one of those jobs that’s a real bore, for there is no gauge on the side of the tank so it necessitates dragging the step ladder down the narrow passage at the side of the garage to climb up and peer into the tank. I had the tank topped up before my foot op knowing I wouldn’t be climbing ladders for a few weeks, but then forgot all about it.
It’s one of the many jobs that fall to me and which I sometimes resent, for like so many others it is completely invisible to anyone else unless it is ignored. So many of these unseen tasks fall to women don’t they? The thought, planning and organisation of so many events that ensure life run smoothly, with ritual and pleasure; I actually have a book on the subject of the mental load which I am yet to read (because I’m too busy doing all the bloody jobs!). It’s called Fair Play by Eve Rodsky and while I did flip through it when it arrived, my mood at the time was such that what I really thought was that it wasn’t me who needed to read it. Have you read it?
The Garden
Another word that I have never used to describe myself is ‘earthy’, but earlier this week I found myself responding to JoJo at Notes from the Potager on a shared enthusiasm for homemade compost! Creating good compost is not actually as simple as one might think it should be, it requires the right proportions of green to brown material, sufficient moisture and some regular agitation. It’s all too easy to end up with a pile more suited to the bonfire or a disgustingly stinky slime pit, but digging down into a pile of dark brown, crumbly stuff full of worms in the knowledge that it will nourish all your tender plants is immensely satisfying! Spreading the by-products of our own garden is not only practical, but the circular process of growth, decay and redistribution is very rewarding to be part of.
Last weekend Mike and I spent an entire day on an unplanned, but highly constructive upgrade of the area under the shepherd hut. A visit from the tree surgeon to take care of a Liquid Amber with damaged branches resulted in another large pile of wood chippings; I blithely suggested shoving them under the hut which Mike countered with a proposal to use some of the stone from a pile at the bottom of the orchard to create a border. I confess that I groaned at the invention of yet another project to complete, but did acquiesce and agreed that it was a good idea. The whole endeavour took quite some time and a lot of energy, but I must say that it feels like a great improvement.
Mud, Fire & Smoke
I haven’t thrown a thing this week but I have managed to bisque fire almost everything which was waiting, the result of which is that I now have to face my nemesis and get glazing. It’s a challenge, because though I really like to make more functional ware, the sorts of things that sit on the side in the kitchen and are reached for daily, the finishes I’m ever drawn to all seem to be more decorative. I will at some point have to invest in the product from Australia which will enable me to combine the two with a food safe finish.
In the meantime I have been trying to figure out a way in which I can combine some graphic elements with a smoke firing, I’m playing with ideas using underglaze, wax or a transfer technique using slip but am hoping that tomorrow may reveal some solutions.
This week, in a brief moment of excellent time management I’m writing before my self imposed Friday afternoon deadline for I’m off to London for the day. I’m treating myself to a day out at Ceramic Art London where I hope to be inspired and educated in equal measure. I anticipate feeling overwhelmed and inadequate too, but I try to embrace such feelings these days as an indicator of my desire to improve.
As an added bonus to the day I am meeting up for a cuppa with my erstwhile photography partner Eve Milner. In 2021 we made a diptych project together called 2.120.120 - 2 women, 120 miles (between us), 120 years (combined age). I actually thought I had a gallery of the whole project on my website but find to my bemusement and distress that I don’t. You can have a look at it here on Instagram until I remedy the situation; I fear that in my endless website tweaking as I alter course creatively I have neglected to move it from one site to another!
It’s bookclub night tonight and not only am I hosting but I haven’t managed to read beyond page 20 of The Wren, The Wren; I just can’t find adequate flow in the words to induce me to keep turning the pages. I’m happy to say that our bookclub is pretty relaxed though and I need not hang my head in shame for I doubt I’ll be the only one who hasn’t read it. Fingers crossed the rhubarb and custard cake I plan on will be good, our rhubarb bed is prolific and I’m in need of more inventive ways to use it, perhaps I should challenge
at The Department of Salad to suggest something!May the week ahead be a good one for you.
With love,
Vx
Oh yes, did you have a lovely day out? I hope the weather was kind? X
Aww, that was a lovely round up Vanessa, Gerties face! And those lambs… I’m choking back tears!
My favourite rhubarb recipe is baked orange and rhubarb, on a ginger nut base (home made they difference is huge) with a meringue topping, it’s a bit like lemon meringue pie but nothing like it! Or strawberry and rhubarb, white chocolate cookies… I so wish I could grow rhubarb here!