Expectations fulfilled

FAIRFIELD. St Thomas of Canterbury.

By itself on the Marsh, and mellowed with yellow lichen.

The illustration in Oyler's Churches of the Diocese of Canterbury 

(1912) shows a tottering ruin by the dyke, mostly of timber.

W.D.Caröe rebuilt it from the ground in 1913,

with great care and sensibility.

Some of the old materials were re-used.

The box pews, pulpit and reading desk are painted white

picked out in black.

The oval text boards add character.

So wrote John Piper when he was sent by King Penguin books

to stay for a time in Romney Marsh, Kent.

Long before I knew of the BBC 's intention to film

Great Expectations, I had formulated a plan 

 to visit the churches of the Marsh

which he painted.

All we had to do was collect the key

 hanging by the back door of a nearby farm,

and let ourselves in.

It was great.

Dreads and panics

   

Gulls and terns are closely related.

They seem to fly like embodied spirits clad in grey and white,

though some have black hoods,

and some have black on their wings.

The long-winged, long-tailed terns

are altogether more volatile and dainty

and less aggressive than the larger and heavier-built gull tribe.

Terns, even when undisturbed by man,

will rise up suddenly from their breeding ground 

and leave it deserted for a while as they float together in the sky,

moving silently and in a compact cloud over the sea. 

These movements have been called 'dreads' and 'panics',
but it is obvious that fear is not always the impelling motive.

Whatever the cause, the result is inimical to the survival

of the species, as the nesting ground is left exposed

to the attentions of predatory neighbours.

  

Collective flight in birds often appears to be so instantaneous

that some writers have suggested it is governed by a form of

thought-transference taking place over the air-waves

or vibrations of which we know little or nothing.

Taken from

   

King Penguins Birds of the Sea by R.M.Lockley.
                                                                

The Pipers, Issey Miyake and Sandy Calder

In one of those lovely moments of synchronicity

I had half-planned a post for today

based on this passage from

Over the Hills and Far Away, an English Odyssey

by Candida Lycett Green which I am reading again.

Her parents, John Betjeman and Penelope Chetwode

were great friends of the artist 

John Piper and his wife Myfanwy.

My father had met John in 1937 when they

began to collaborate on the Shell Guides 

and Myfanwy and my mum hit it  off instantly.

The Pipers were my paragons and their simple,

solid, flint-and-brick farmhouse

near Henley-on-Thames, my ideal.

I always wanted to live like them, but never got near it.

They had the artist's clarity of vision and there was a calm,

spare, almost Shaker-like quality about their style.

The washed-out sycamore table in the living/eating room

always had a jug of garden flowers on it

(we never had flowers in our house except when

my brother and I arranged them) and

white china candlesticks; an upright piano

stood on one side of the room and

a grand piano on the other.

John and his son Edward played duets after lunch -

'Chattanooga Choo Choo' or music-hall songs

like 'Joshua, Joshua', which we all sang along to.

Through the doorway to the kitchen you could see

the dresser full of bowls and brightly coloured mugs

bought on successive trips to France.

The apple-pie order of the Piper's domestic life

dovetailed with their diligent work routine -

John in his studio painting,

as well as designing stage sets, stained glass

and pottery; Myfanwy writing librettos for

Benjamin Britten at her desk.

Lunch and supper were prepared with ritualistic care 

by Myfanwy, using the best fresh ingredients 

and vegetables from the garden.

Everything they did they did well and elegantly -

John staging spectacular firework displays,

Myfanwy wearing Issey Miyake clothes.

and Sandy Calder jewellery.

And there was the moment. 

I didn't know his work so I looked him up.

Sandy Calder is Alexander Calder (best known for his mobiles)

 and today Google featured him because it is his 113th birthday.

See here for more of his jewellery.

Their economy of style had nothing to do with virtuous piety; 

only a simple editing out of the unnecessary...

I think John and Myfanwy were better at the 'business' of life

than anyone else I have ever known.

On the river

It had been a lovely afternoon, thought Mrs Miniver

as they moved smoothly downstream between the low green banks.

In most parts of England this was the season of the year

that she liked least - this ripe, sultry time

when the trees were no longer jade but malachite,

and the hedges looked almost black against the parched fields...

Summer was bathos, dégringolade:

one waited longingly for autumn,

which would bring back colour and magic.

But in this sort of landscape,

high summer was the perfect time.

Here, the grass of the water meadows was fresh, cool, and green;

the steady onward sweep of the river,

the quivering reflections in its depths

and the play of light on it surface,

gave movement and variety ...

Even the rank and ramping vegetation of summer

(such a come-down, in most places,

after the delicate miraculous experiments of spring)

seemed here to be superbly appropriate,

like large jewellery on a fine, bold, handsome woman.

Down by the water's edge there were coarse clumps

of comfrey and fig-wort,

hemp agrimony and giant dock;
on the banks, a tangle of vetch and convolvulous,

moon daisies, yarrow, and bedstraw;

while from higher up still came 

the heavy, heady sweetness of elder flowers.

Comfrey from Flowers of Marsh & Stream
King Penguin by Iolo A. Williams

Moon daisies in my British Wildflower picture card collection 

with its illustrations by C.F Tunnicliffe R.A  issued in 1964 and

'offered in the interests of education and wildlife conservation'

by Brooke Bond Tea.

Delving into a packet of fragrant loose leaf tea for the newest card

is a delight lost to present day children.

I had thirty-four of the fifty cards needed to complete the album.

Convolvulous from
Flower Fairies of the Wayside by Cicely Mary Barker


Extract from Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther.

Let joy be unconfined

A happy and special addition to my King Penguin collection.

Well done O. You made it.

On with the dance!

Let joy be unconfined.

Lord Byron

Duck therapy

It is never a bad idea

to go and visit

 the ducks.

You can lose yourself

in the scribbled reflections.

Foraging

I found this King Penguin for my collection

whilst foraging in bookshops

in Hay on Wye.

Psalliota campestris.

Field mushrooms.

Delicious.

Never take risks with potentially poisonous fungi.

Always consult an expert,

or a photographic guide.

My book is very charming,

 but not really adequate for reliable identification. 

There is much good advice online,

in France or Eastern Europe you can take them

to a pharmacy to be checked

and if in doubt

don't eat it !

The past, present - in the park

In most species of northern ducks the plumage of the males 

is much brighter and more varied in colour than that of the females, 

who need to be dull and inconspicuous when incubating eggs...

and most northern species retire to moult 

when the incubation of the eggs begins. 

This moult brings the drake into 'eclipse' plumage 

which closely resembles that of the female. 

He, however, remains in this state only for a short time 

and by winter has regained his handsome appearance.

This feather is probably from the little patch of coloured feathers in the wing which is called the 'speculum' - a distinctive feature amongst almost all ducks.

from the King Penguin

Book of Ducks

by Phyllis Barclay.

Today

I took the train to Brighton

 to keep my badges company,

at the Six Christmas Open House.

Had to keep an open mind about some of the exhibits,

Yes. It's a partially incinerated wooden pallet.

Yes. It's a bath.

Took a walk on the front.

Paused with this gull.

Thought about gullibility. 

Liked this lonely helter-skelter.

Popped into the Museum

and played my favourite game

What would I

borrow?

Settled on this day bed with screens

designed by Armand-Albert Rateau.

Did I buy anything in the shops?

Yes.

A sought after 1947 King Penguin book

from their eclectic list.

Wildflowers of the Chalk

by John Gilmour.

A present from Brighton.