Day Seven Art Challenge Alan Snape Potter

..and so we reach Day Seven of The Art Challenge for the potter...Alan Snape...

At the closing exhibition of his time studying art at St Martins Lancaster...every piece of work apart from two which we still have...sold! 

At that time Alan was working in wood, metal and ceramic. He was creating wall pieces with burnt wood and metal or clay..... big powerful pieces of art.

 I was always sorry that teaching at Penketh High...stopped all that influence. Too much else to think about...apart from family growingup etc!! 

So the commission for a wall mounted work to be placed in the foyer of the Oaks Centre  in Penketh was welcomed. 

The piece is composed of oak beams burnt in the bonfire, down the field, until charred to his satisfaction. Then formed into various sized crosses and three pure white ceramic balls placed within the sculpture.

If you ask him what it means you will receive a gentle shrug and...

 "what do you think?"

I'm adding this early pic of Alan's car....the beloved Nelly...car...circa 1967...in Rochdale with a friend from St. Martin's College Lancaster, the lovely sister @Rosiemcclellandart and yours truly...how glamorous, how young, how innocent we were!

I kept slim by pushing Nelly to start her most days!!

 

Rotten Root

We had a favourite tree in the back garden/field...just up the steps and to the right...an ideal spot to watch the grand girls climb while we had a little relax in the sun trap at the back of the tool shed....

...then came the storm this week.

Well lots of damage on the east coast and lovely Morecambe prom pretty full on as well!!

Houses washed away into the roaring sea...cars and vans taken by the waves and lots of Welsh bungalows deep in water on the northern coast where the pensioners retire to live a quiet life....ha!

Yesterday morning woke us quietly.... until we saw the tree!!

A beautiful Stag Horn...I forget the latin name...gorgeous tree...sturdy ...broad trunked....ideal for climbing...

...well I did myself a few times when I thought that noone was around to laugh at my antics!!

We had been given it by old friends who once lived in Southport ... it had many memories.

But the thought that I had was that ...

...if the root is rotten...

...the tree will fall...

...now I think that could be well applied to so many parts of life today...it got me thinking..

...no matter how beautiful...

...no matter how big...

....if the root is rotten ...it will fall.

Anyway here's a collage from happier times and of course the potter already sawing away at it as we will have some unexpected wood available for the winter fires!!

Oh... I have insisted that the main tree be kept and made into a seat at the bottom of the field where there is a nice little spot that gets the late sun when everywhere else is in shadow...been thinking about it for a while...

...I call that redeeming!!

Foraging begins!

...this is hairy bitter cress!!!

Well this grows all by itself...I never have to encourage it and then come the early days of spring....there it is in amongst the stoney paths that trap the winter rains.

....oh that sounded quite poetic I think...

..."The stoney paths that trap the winter rains"....

Well anyway...this hairy bitter cress is actually quite delicious when washed and the root removed and popped into tomato sandwiches or added to a spring green salad!

Here's a little blurb about it from a foraging post that I came across....

Hairy bittercress is known by other common names like pepperweed, snapweed, and land cress. It is in the mustard family, and has the same peppery, bitter flavor as other mustards. It is best to gather the greens very early in the spring, or in the late fall when the leaves are tender. The many leaf stalks grow from a basal rosette, can reach about 4" long, and are sparsely hairy. Each leaf stalk has 5-9 paired leaflets, and the largest unpaired leaflet is at the tip of the stalk. From the center of the basal rosette, flower stalks will grow up to 10" tall, with several more leaf stalks growing from the main stem. The flowers are very small, white, and have 4 petals, and will bloom while the seed capsules are forming. The seed capsules are small, about 1/2"-1" long, and olive green. When the seed capsules are mature, they can explode and spread the tiny seeds far from the parent plant. While the flowers and flower stalks are edible, they may seem a bit tough compared to the more tender leaf stalks and leaflets.

Now you see ...you all know it probably, and perhaps you all got there before me and had been putting it into your salads...for ever! 

I snip the roots off....plunge it in to cold water a few times and often just leave it in the water until I use it.

We had it in sandwiches today alongside some gorfeous carrot and lentil soup!

....YUM...

(Like the fish swimming around in that bowl by the potter!)

The next herb to be foraged  will be the juicy tops of the early nettle crop that I maintain at the side of the orchard....oh alright ...grows whether I like it or not...

...but boy does it make a good nettle broth..

They say that it's good for the liver.

That's good enough for me!

Yeast!

So....what to do on a dank, drear, Sunday afternoon in late January.....?

(apart from give birth to first child!)

(well... 42 years ago)

...any way...

....well of course...think of sun, warmth and perhaps...

...Italy!

The recipe in the newspaper was for Foccaccia......have I spelled it right? ...hope so.

Anyway, neither of us are feeling grand, a bit creaky and achey

...so how to cheer ourselves up......

....bake a bit of sunshine.

First thing get the yeast out of the store cupboard and mix it with some luke-warm water...

....hmmmm...best to check the BB date...

.oooops

....october 1998!!

  

Maybe start again!

(do you like that bowl?...the potter made it for me... oh...probably more than 30 years ago...he would throw it out,

"that old thing"

but I won't let him. )

righty ho...and we are off and running...or at least off and baking...

...we think...( the unroyal we of the potter and me)...that the gorgeous Paul Hollywood  would be proud of us as we get our hands deep into the bowls and mix....

"Feel the mixture Mary!"

I'd forgotten how long the waiting is in between each of the pummellings and risings.....you need to have something else to be busy with on a bread baking day ...we decided!

but to our surprise ...the dough rose...

 

 

...more kneading needed....see what I did there?!

...into the tins and sprinkle on the rosemary and sea salt...

...I put a few olives on the top as well.

Oh and don't forget the dimples potter!

...the bread baked ...

...and the family ate and pronounced...

..."This is good"!

There you go.

...and did you know that the name rosemary is really ros maris.......dew of the sea...

...there you are lovely sister!

Lunch at The Palatine.

We sat in the big brown leather armchairs, looking out the window of the Palatine Bar at the sea and mountains, up in the Bay today...

...our first major outing since the potter came out of the jungle that is known as "The NHS"....not that we aren't thankful...we are...but it's still a place you don't want to get lost in!

...Watched the world ...or at least the people of the Bay, go past. 

Me drinking mulled cider and the potter loyally sticking to his fruity glass of pop...

...then just sat for a long while and enjoyed the luxury of the moment and scanned the newspaper for positive headlines...

...there's something timeless about a scene with people promenading in twos and threes along a sea front ...whether Spain in the sun or the Bay...with the wind caressing the beach flags, while the waters flood and in the distance, those old blue mountains edge the horizon...

...as they have done since the days when the ice melted!

Lunch was no disappointment either...the chef came out and mentioned that fresh turkey pie had just come out of the oven with crushed, buttered potatoes and buttered carrots on the side....well who could resist...?

... we didn't!!...

*

just around the corner!!!...

The potter is in hospital...never really ill in our lives together and out of the blue....this!!
So in the Poetry Review post today this poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson came up from Ulysses and seemed to touch me very deeply in a situation that I had never been in before...


There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought
               with me - 
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all:but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes:the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans around with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to find, and not to yield.


I love the lines...Though much is taken.... down to the last line...to strive, to find, and not to yield.
That says it all!