Tag Archives: wood

Julia’s New Hobby – Possibly

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Owl carving – Sherwood Forest

Got up at 7am. It’s not a big deal, I sometimes get up earlier. Old habits and insomnia both die hard. What was a big deal is that now I’m retired I usually leave my waking time to chance. Today was a day for setting the alarm. I made breakfast, of fruit and cereal and then, to be on the safe side made a breakfast cob using black pudding and bacon. It’s a bit like asking Dr Jekyll Chef Hyde to make breakfast – the two sides of healthy.

Julia, in case you are wondering where my soulmate and partner in crime is in all this, got herself dressed for a hard morning’s wood turning before eating both breakfasts. When you aren’t sure what the day is going to bring, it is best to be prepared.

I dropped her off at Railworld a little before 8.30. I don’t really understand it, it’s part railway museum and part wildlife haven, and to get to it you drive through what used to be the fairground/car park and underneath the railway arches. In all the time I lived in Peterborough previously (about 15 years) I only remember going through the arches once or twice. In those days all that was there was additional parking and wasteland.  Today, as I left, a kite wheeled over the haven. This is twice I’ve seen kites over the city and I’ve only been there half a dozen times during daylight.

Sherwood Forest – carving

I expect she will come back either enthusiastic for more woodturning or despondent over some aspect of it. She doesn’t tend to do middle ground.

Meanwhile, I had a rather crowded and fume-filled journey home. It’s a small city, and the traffic is not heavy. It’s just that at 8.30 my route home is a bit of a nightmare. I could possibly make it quicker by finding a way round, but I’m still a bit shaky at navigating round Peterborough because many of the roads didn’t exist when I last lived here. There is plenty of margin for me to get lost.

The post arrived, bringing a cheap medallion with it. It’s an aluminium medallion depicting a smelting plant in Bahrain. Aluminium is a fascinating and widely used metal. It’s only about 150 years ago it was considered to be more exclusive than gold. Now we use it for wrapping food and making window frames. I have about fifteen aluminium medallions depicting aspects of the aluminium industry in my collection. I have a list of others I am looking for, and a handful of aluminium coins and medallions as examples of what has made from aluminium over the years. One day I will do a presentation on aluminium for the Numismatic Society.

But for today I must write a couple of paragraphs for a friend who is writing a book on Nottinghamshire Numismatics, send something off for the society Facebook page and then, probably, get to work on my next presentation – The Dark Side of the Medal – which is due in may next year. May is not a long way off as I need to test it in April to avoid a repetition of the debacle last time I did a talk.

Acorn Sculpture – Sherwood Forest

Meanwhile, I’m working on a scheme regarding a soundtrack, dry ice and (possibly) a cape.

Raindrops and Carvings

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Owing to the disorganised nature of my blogging I’m now going to write about Thursday, even though it’s Sunday night. In fact it will be Monday morning by the time I press the button.

It was raining on Thursday  and Julia was busy all day with various tasks. That’s what happens when you are a pillar of society, people keep asking you to do things.  Nobody needed me for anything, so, with no supervision from my better half, I had a whole day in which to loaf.

First call was to some friends with a jewellers shop.  After dragging Julia round Lincolnshire on Valentine’s Day I thought a visit to a specialist in vintage jewellery who gives discounts for cash could be a good idea, particularly as I’d bought the flowers a week early because they were cheaper.

(I may have been put on this earth to be Julia’s soulmate, but I’m not convinced that I was put here to line the pockets of florists at peak times for sales of red roses.)

Greylag Goose – Arnold
Pochard – Arnot Hill
Red Crested Pochard – Arnot Hill

After that it was off to do some shopping and then, despite the rain, I felt the need for ducks. As you can see from the photographs, the waterproof plumage of waterfowl works well in the rain.

Despite many notices about not feeding the pigeons people keep doing it. They also keep throwing handfuls of food into the pond and around its margins. I don’t mind the pigeons (though I do wish people would read the notices) but I do mind the idea of attracting rats and fouling the water with decayed foodstuffs. At least nobody feeds bread, though I’m not sure what genius decided to dump a box of breakfast cereal .

If you are too stupid to read no sign is going to make a difference
Coco Pops by the side of the pond. Really?
Don’t feed the Pigeons!

Last time I visited they had cut down a tree on the island. Today I was amazed to see that it had been carved into a variety of figures, including a duck, a fox, a hedgehog and a heron. They are all good, though the Heron is particularly appropriate as it stands just yards from the place where we often see the real Heron.

It’s also appropriate as Arnold is derived from the old name Ernehale (Place of the Heron). Sometimes this is rendered as Place of the Eagle. but I’ve only ever seen Erne used as an archaic term for Heron.

If you follow the link you will also see a reference to the Hawksley and Davison mill that used the duck pond as its millpond.

Duck – Arnot Hill Park
Sculptures at Arnot Hill
Heron and Duck – Arnold
Hedgehog – Arnold
Fox – Arnot Hill