Brecon Museum II

Many apologies for the delay in this post.  It has been an odd week - another viewing, which mopped up all but a few hours of the past 5 days - and yet more problems with the broadband and the phone line (which was extremely crackly).  I couldn't load photos for love or money, which was very frustrating.

Oh, and the viewing?  Well, I'm not holding my breath.  Two ladies who run a spiritual retreat - one very tuned-in to the house (and said how fortunate we were to live here) but was also heard to mutter perhaps it wasn't for them.  (Not surprising as she stuck her head up the leaking inglenook as there was a wet spot beneath it I could not disguise . . .)  I spent the week being very stressed out because there were two obvious areas of damp on walls - temporary, since lime walls breath in and then expel any damp by drawing it out again WHEN it finally stops raining.  One wall is the old gypsum plaster and that doesn't breath like lime plaster does.

Anyway, today Tam and I are off to Newton House (where I used to volunteer) at Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo where there is a day of talks about old houses, lime, and letting them breath and we hope to find a replacement for our dear friend Steve who did all the lime work and much of the restoration on our house.  He has now retired, bless him, and out of the area so we will miss him turning up on the doorstep with his metal detector or a jar of honey from his bees.

So, back to Brecon museum, starting with this fabulous old hand-made and hand embroidered smock.  I have always had a really soft spot for such things - SO Thomas Hardy, and a real link with our agricultural past.

This was part of a panorama of the beautiful scenery around Brecon - the Brecon Beacons in sight here.

A Great Wheel, a design which lingered on in Wales.  Originally invented in the 14th C, it was also called a Walking Wheel as the spinner would stand up to work it.  As the treadle wheel, a later invention, was more expensive, the Great Wheel was used well into the 19th C here in Wales.

Tally sticks - simple square batons of wood marked with crosses to count livestock (usually sheep, especially here in Wales).  Beside them is a fagging hook  which held the corn for it to be cut with the sickle.  I used to have one which was a more simple wooden stick (one which had a natural bend to it).  Inside that is a reproduction Ox Shoe.

If I remember rightly, this hefty iron bucket came from a coal mine.

Various dairy implements for the production of butter.  I love the pretty hand-carved sycamore butter  stamps and have a couple myself.  Metal skimmers to the right (though these look like French ones to me), Scotch "hands" or butter pats to shape the pat of butter, and hand-made wooden bowls too.

Another part of the same display with a milking stool and a metal skimmer to the front.  The bowl with holes would have been used to drain the whey from the butter and then the water when it was washed to remove any remaining whey.

Part of an exhibition about Adolina Patty, the famous opera singer who lived at Craig-y-Nos Castle between Brecon and Neath.  (The Home Rule for Hay flyer is associated with the self-appointed "King of Hay", the late Richard Booth, who was responsible for turning the town into the "town of books".

This looks like a Mamgu Shawl - one worn by a nursing mother to keep her warm when she breast fed her baby in the still of the night.

Right, I will get this posted before the internet plays up again.  One more post about Brecon Museum to come.

Another viewing - so it's hectic here

Sorry I have firstly had Broadband problems (BT are on to it, they tell us), and Keith and Tam are laid up with the cold I had, and now we have a viewing so I have been going flat out as ever to try to get the house looking as pleasant as possible AND working flat out on the garden as the ladies who are viewing are avid gardeners (first we'll have had viewing, just when the garden is at its worst of course).  I have been pulling up grass, buttercups and our pernicious weeds and bunging in Polyanthus all over the place for a bit of colour.  The worst bed has now been covered with bark chips but I have other areas to do . . .  No time to sit (no time for lunch!) - I need to get on. Cross your fingers for us, as ever . . .

Cheese Rolls by Torchlight

Well, I will give up on trying to load a photo as I have spent the last 15 minutes attempting to load done!  I will try again later on.  Success:  First Mollyblob flowers (you may know them as Kingcups or Marsh Marigolds).

Meanwhile, I should be grateful to have broadband  - we spent 6 hours on Saturday without any power at all. We had just got back from stocking the larder (extra tins, cat food, loo rolls etc in case the Coronavirus takes off in our area - we will then just stick to our home locale as much as possible.)  So, around 1.20 the power flickered and then went off.  After ten minutes or so, we checked (using Tam's phone, which has signal here and broadband link) the Western Power line - power outage affecting 29 or so houses, expected back on at 3 p.m.  By 3.15 pm the power outage was affecting about a further 100 houses (most of the parish I assume) and the update said, expect power back at 6 p.m.  At 6 p.m. we were back down to the 29 houses (our little bit along the valley, pretty well our postcode) and 7.30 p.m. was the prognosis.  Indeed, it was 7.30 p.m. when it came on again.

During daylight it was OK as we lit the woodburner and camped out in the living room.  We lit candles and put them in front of the big mirror over the sideboard, and lit other candles and set them around the room, including the one in a church hanging sconce and we also turned on all the different fairy lights.  It looked really cosy.  We read by torchlight, and talked.  I set a little pan of water with a lid on to heat on the woodburner but had to laugh as the fire wasn't going strongly and it didn't boil until . . . 7.30 p.m.!!

We have a collection of small torches, but Keith had invested in two big new ones from Lidl last week - they work on a beam or if you pull the centre out, then you have a big all round light.  They also have a jointed magnetic end so you can attach them to a radiator.  They are re-chargable.  A good investment!

We made our evening meal by the light of one - rolls with cheese or chicken fillings, salad etc and then didn't need to cook later.

We coped, but were very glad when the power returned.  6 hours was quite long enough!

Back anon with a proper post - I got a walk in along the river earlier on - as it was SUNNY and dry for once!

Keeping warm by the fire

This morning's sunrise.  It promised a good day, but the grey skies soon returned and it was very cold out today, with some more showers.  I am laid up with another cold - this time the sort with a temperature, and I have spent the last couple of nights "glowing" in bed, with extra layers of bedding over me.  I have been sleeping a lot more (to make up for a night without much sleep when my kidneys were working overtime).  I've had to go back to bed a couple of times too.  Hopefully - says she, with fingers x'd - the worst of it is now over and I may wake up tomorrow feeling a bit more normal.  My nose has stopped streaming today, so that is a positive.  I daren't move away from the fire though, and have been tucked up on the sofa with a throw over me, plus a hotty botty and a bevy of cats to keep me warm.  UPDATE: woke up this morning (Wednesday) feeling back to normal, thank heavens!

Just to prove that the sun did come out yesterday for 5 minutes - the long-distance view from my office window looking across next door's farmyard and the valley beyond.

Here, thanks to my clever husband, is a new-to-me floor standing anglepoise magnifying lamp.  We bought it - sight unseen (never a good idea!) - at auction last Friday.  Several other people piled on it too and it swiftly rose from the £5 we began bidding at, to £28, which meant it came home with us.  However, when we collected it, it was very grubby with no plug on it, and it looked like someone had found it at the Tip and bunged it in the auction!  The head was also drooping where the back fitting connected to it.  We were cursing ourselves for buying it, but K said there wasn't much that could go wrong with it and he got busy and sorted it out.  We just needed a new starter motor (I think). I went to the lighting shop at Johnstown and it was mended - for the grand outlay of 50p!  Now my other one is deemed a spare and has gone up for Tam to use with her jewellery business and I have a far superior magnifier for my use.

I was feeling slightly better yesterday and Tam and I went to see Emma.  It was really good - far better than the prim and proper 1990s version.  This was a lot more tongue in cheek and ladies' dresses were fabulous, as were the house interiors (Wilton House figured large) and the beautiful concoctions of puddings and grand food on the dinner table.  I can recommend it.

Brecon Museum Part I

We went to auction at Brecon yesterday, and afterwards we went on to the Museum.  We have been on the look out for the museum at Brecon to re-open for a long time now (it was closed for more than 3 years for a renovation and extension project.  It now has the Brecon Library under the same roof.  However, a severe lack of signage and the incorporation of an art gallery made negotiating it rather difficult - they definitely need signage - for a start to say which door leads to the bloomin' museum!!  The original glass front doors now shut to public, which seems daft . . .  It was very disjointed too - no flow to it whatsoever.

Firstly these wonderful Welsh love spoons formed part of the original Rural Life display.  I think they have more on display now and oh my goodness, the quality of this work is just amazing.  The ones with chain links (wooden) were all carved from one long piece of wood.

As well as the spoons there were pieces to fit in stays/bodice (whale bones later used) and some other more random pieces of craftsmanship - all given as love tokens.

A lovely old Welsh dresser showed a wonderful selection of Welsh treen items for the dairy and kitchen - all hand made of course.

A double and two single spoons.

Sarah Jones was very diligent as was Mary Thomas, below.

More lovely examples of craftsmanship - close up of the writing on the one on the left below.  I love the knife, fork and spoon on the one on the right!  SO cleverly done.

This reads" Mary Davies.  Coed (wood) Lland-y-vailay Vach.  March 1st 1643.  Amazing that it has survived, but I imagine it was much treasured and passed down through the family.

A wonderful puzzle? piece, again all carved by hand in such intricacy.

Miniature examples of  furniture.  Apprentice pieces or just the work of many winter's nights by the fire?

Stumpwork (probably 17th C looking by the design) - so the women's skills with a needle were represented too.

In the children's section - I used to have a little tinplate set like this - it was from the Queen's Coronation.

Some wee dolls - the one on the right looks a bit grumpy!

Finally, soft toys .

Off for a bath now as I am very sore from a visit to the Chiro today to put back my neck (it would be the arthritic part that fell foul of my fall) and lower back.  Hopefully it will remember where it should be tomorrow and bits will have stopped aching.

Gloucester Cathedral 2

Thomas Machen (1541 - 1614) and his wife Christian, and below some of their 13 children (poor woman!) - 7 sons and 6 daughters.  He was Sheriff of Gloucester several times, and Mayor several times too.

I think these modern stained glass windows are lovely.

Sorry, above plaque barely legible - Charles John Ellicot, Bishop of Gloucester, lived 1819 - 1905.

A lesser-known fact about this noble figure is that his naughty brothers once upended a full and very well used chamber-pot over his head . . .  Perhaps this was what led to his rocky relationship with them and his father . . .

The Cathedral has 46 beautifully carved 14th C Misericords, and 12 other replacements by Gilbert Scott.   Their designs reflect mythology, folklore, religious symbolism and everyday life.  The one above is open to conjecture!

Could be anything!!

A figure of a king wearing a crown with beaked beasts either side of him. 

The man riding a goat is to do with Licentiousness, something that goats were well known for.  The perils of succombing to lust . . .

Another not sure - Christ? St Francis?  with a donkey.  Or just "Be kind to animals . . ."

Finally, one of the stunning stained glass windows.

Whilst we aren't bothered with flooding now the river is back down to showing the rocks again, other poor souls further east are still suffering, and more rain due and the good folk of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire in the firing line with rising river levels, and yet more heavy rain forecast for the next day or two. When will it end?

Glad we're on a hill

I think I can safely say that our next house is not going to be called "River View" . . .  We like Crickhowell and would like to live there (though it's a bit of a hot spot so not good value for money).  The poor souls living near the river had immense flooding - I've just been watching the Welsh news and they interviewed the pub landlord (that's the pub, on the juncture of the two streets where the bridge begins, I believe) - the flooding came up and into his upstairs bedrooms . . .  On other houses it was measured at 20 feet deep and nearly in upstairs too . . .  The landlord doesn't know if he will reopen for business.  This drone photo was taken after the water had subsided a good bit . . .

You can see the pink colour of the river and floodwater - good red sandstone soil in these parts.  I got the photo from our daily paper as I don't know if links to BBC online coverage will be valid for overseas followers.  We were very fortunate here - a day's inconvenience, should we have wanted to go out we'd have had to go the top way.  We did get out today and I took the following photos of the flooding in the Towy Valley.

These were taken from the car, as we drove along the A40 (I was not the designated driver I hasten to add!)

Then we stopped in the Museum car park and nipped across to film the Bishop's Pond which had joined forces with the flood water from the River Towy nearby.  Sorry that the light was so poor.

Then on into Carmarthen and these are the traditional flood meadows under water.  I hasten to add all these photos of our local flooding are normal for many winters . . .  This is farmland - though there are a couple of farms which are situated at the edge of or (one) in the middle of the valley.

Sometimes we too get exceptional floods - one last year meant the auction house and other businesses beside the river had three feet of water in them - not good news.  A couple are garages, another a woodworking business, one a builder's merchants etc.  One makes coracles, which is very appropriate . . .  Under the rules of the insurance apparently, everything - even bags of gravel or stone or floor tiles - are deemed ruined by floodwater and must go into landfill.  What a waste.  I believe the river was over again this time (saw water still in the car park of the garage on the far side).

My thoughts go out to those who have virtually lost everything . . .