Miscellany - and a Thank You
Here we are, almost mid May and it’s my birthday on Tuesday. My wish list is unrealistically huge and I just saw a jacket in a vintage shop which I can’t stop thinking about. I also just bought a mid century bookcase with sliding glass doors from the charity furniture shop in Hebden Bridge. It needs collecting at the weekend. Jay doesn’t know about it yet. If he reads this on his lunch break, he’ll find out.
Anyway…
I’d like to say a huge thank you for all your comments and thoughts on my previous post. I’m still working through them, and making a note of how many votes each image gets. It’s been really useful to hear people’s opinions and suggestions so I’m hoping to make a shortlist of photographs to get printed out. If you’d like to see the test print, it appears towards the end of this post.
Also, I’m touched by all the messages of appreciation for the blog. And for the compliments on my photography. Being self taught, you tend to suffer from impostor syndrome - especially when you use Instagram and see accounts belonging to professional photographers. I suppose it’s reassuring to know that my camera skills are perhaps a bit better than I let myself think!
It’s been a busy few weeks here. The bank holiday weekend was a good one; I took myself out for a pre-breakfast walk on the Saturday, just locally (so some of the places in the pictures may look familiar). We live up the side of a valley which means you’re always going to end up on a steep incline sooner or later. It’s almost vertical in parts, especially behind the house, so within ten minutes of setting off you’re out of breath and feeling a bit wobbly. And sick.
But you keep going and eventually find yourself high up with no more climbing. Lots of views and your heart rate eventually slows back to normal. The fresh air makes everything better, along with relief and a small sense of smugness that you actually did it.
Of course, once I was up on the hills the sky darkened and the heavens opened. But I just pulled up my hood and stuffed the camera inside my coat, and all was well. Then I slowly made my way back down to a nice, quiet, empty house for tea and toast and a bit of time with the weekend papers.
We went to Oxenhope for a walk too. It’s somewhere we’d probably have moved to, had we not had to do the whole long distance during a pandemic thing (no opportunities to have a look around the wider area and make shortlists). It’s very close to Haworth and has a little steam railway station, lots of walks and more affordable houses due to not being featured in The Guardian all the time, like Hebden is. Much as I like living here, fancy coffees and lifestyle shops don’t necessarily have to be right on the doorstep.
But it’s still nice to feel part of something. And we’re staying put until Joe finishes secondary school now. No more upheaval for him.
By ‘staying put’, I mean within the catchment area of the local high school. Obviously, we want to buy a house but it’ll be local. There’s very little on the market at the moment and I’ve read a few unsettling articles about rising prices and a lack of properties, particularly now people are wanting to move away from towns and cities and work from home.
Sometimes you just have to trust in serendipity. And that’s very unlike me.
I put in a day at the Egg Factory last week. Most of it was spent carving lino, with a bit of drawing and online research too. It was nice to do something away from the desk or the dining table, and I had a wander into town at lunchtime.
I know you’ve seen this row of houses before, but I like them a lot. And the one below (in Oxenhope) had the most amazing garden - I couldn’t stop peering over the wall.
The weekend just gone, we stayed local and went for a walk near Hardcastle Crags. It turned into quite the odyssey as we went one way then realised we couldn’t get across a stream (we’ve had a lot of rain lately and the odd thunderstorm too) as the water was just too deep and fast-flowing. So we had to turn back and clamber up and down a path fit only for mountain goats, holding onto heather roots and tree branches to haul ourselves up and to avoid slithering down into said stream.
I was not a happy bunny.
There was no way we were climbing up the steps either. The photos don’t show just how steep and numerous they are. We saw a few beetroot-faced people who’d done it, and they weren’t selling the idea to me.
The bench is probably the most well-placed ever. It’s just lacking a defibrillator.
So we went through the woods instead, still climbs and drops, but it was doable. We were lost though, and thirsty, but kept going and somehow ended up back in the right place. We only had to join Those Steps about halfway up. The car was parked just across the road so Jay got my Thermos of tea, he and Joe had cold drinks, and we all recovered on that wonderful bench.
Complete change of subject, but we baked the other day: Nigella’s recipe for snickerdoodles, and then we followed her suggestion to add cocoa (chockadoodles). They’re really nice, like little cakes, and although they were meant for Joe’s packed lunches we’re sharing them between us ;)
I’m still looking for vintage Hornsea pottery. Being a stubborn Taurean, I don’t want to just hand over a large amount of money at the flea market or online. I want to find it myself. Pretty unlikely, considering it’s so covetable at the moment, but still. I have a secret weapon in the form of my friend Karen. We’re meeting up tomorrow and she’s literally the most talented and lucky charity shopper ever. I’m hoping some of her magic rubs off onto me.
Of course, prone as I am to falling down Pinterest rabbit holes, I’ve been focusing on mid century design as inspiration for future prints. There are some lovely blogs and websites out there featuring ceramics from that era - I’ve always had a Thing for ceramics, particularly stoneware and studio pottery - and I’ve got a little sketchbook where I can draw the patterns and note down colourways, designers etc. It’s a good thing to do whilst sitting in the car waiting for school to finish. Productive.
In the garden, the rhubarb is reaching triiffid-like proportions. And the bare, knobbly trees which have been severely pruned look like they might be fruit trees.
This is my studio. It’s in the garage. It’s a bit gloomy and grubby but I can cope with that. In summer I can open the big up-and-over doors and people can watch me as they walk past.
We set up the old draughtsman’s table and heaved the etching press onto it. Unfortunately the cat jumped up to investigate, and the whole tabletop tilted and the press slid off and crashed to the (concrete) floor. Joe was excited, I was stressed, Jay was… philosophical.
We moved the press onto another table. Fortunately nobody was hurt and as far as I can see, the press isn’t damaged. The cat’s still in my bad books though. Bengal cats are a) very vocal and b) incredibly needy. We’re not pedigree cat kind of people - he was a rescue of sorts. He’s quite the liability and firmly inserts his not unsubstantial self into most situations.
So there you have it: a mixed bag of things. Thank you again for your help with the photo-choosing, and if I haven’t replied it’s because I’m always spinning plates and struggling for time.
I’m looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow it’s Karen, for the secondhand shopping experience, and on Saturday I’m taking Joe over to Rossendale to see more friends and family. And possibly to call in here. Jay’s having the day to himself, something he never gets. Hopefully it’ll sweeten him up for collecting that bookcase.
