Most of these were taken in Pistoia but odd ones we found in Siena. They pleased me with their variety, their lovely shapes, the wooden doors and the humour. Click on any photo to see the detail.
The heavens opened as we left our hotel, boarded the train and visited Florence, along with thousands of others as we visited on a bank holiday, it being May Day! We were taken around by a guide who filled us with information, most of which I promptly forgot. Dodging the puddles meant looking up to see the beauty in Florence was quite hard but we had fun anyway.
I had a mission for the day – to buy myself a red purse with Firenze on it. Many years ago when I was about 17, my Daddy had been on a school trip with his pupils and he brought me home a lovely red purse from Florence. Sadly, I left it in a phone box and though I returned within minutes, it had gone. Now, 70 years later, I have another.
Umbrellas in the crowds
Wedding couple – in the rain
In a brief respite from the rain, with calm waters, the Ponte Vecchio
A delightful surprise today when a friend rang to say that she had seen a poster for a musical play of one of my Dad’s books! The Fate of Jeremy Visick is to be performed in a couple of weeks and of course, we now have tickets. The book was first adapted by Judith Cook and we all came down from Yorkshire to see the Premiere at The Barbican Theatre in Plymouth in 1990! It is so lovely to know that my Dad’s work is still being appreciated. We love the poster and think Dad would have approved.
Stage Struck and The Fate of Jeremy Visick
Thirteen singers from my two choirs met at the building site that is The Hall for Cornwall to entertain the dignitaries who were being shown around. We sang in the stair-well and the acoustics were brilliant. The audience in their hard hats and hi-vis jackets were very appreciative.
Ingleheart Singers and Suitcase Singers
In the process of the building works, a beautiful gate has been discovered. It was buried inside a wall and dates from before 1914 so is well over 100 years old. The plans have been altered a little to make sure this discovery is integrated into the new building.
Delightful discovery
I love seeing the structure of winter trees.
Winter trees
The Suitcase singers have done the last concert of the season in the beautiful old Male Church. This photo was taken by a member of the audience.
The Suitcase Singers
Mabe Church dates from 1400, the stone work is fabulous and the door latch heavy and dramatic.
Old door latch on the Church door
Outside the bank in Truro we came across a sculpture. I need to find out more about it.
Metal work soldier to commemorate 100 years since the end of the Great War
The lights are on in the City of Truro.
Christmas Angel in Truro
The following very moving poem came my way and I have permission to share it. It is one of the ‘ghost generation’ in the sculpture above.
Eternity by Kim Ridgeon
If only no-one could see the borders, whether from outer space on here on our blue planet. Thank you for this, Kim and Jean for introducing me to it.
The fading light was lovely for a walk this evening – flowers with a glow, a cat with blue feet and an ethereal weather vane.
I was in the Cornish Studies Library again today and thought that you might like to see another of the Tregellas tapestries, this one of some Cornish Festivals including Padstow’s Obby Oss which I wrote about recently. Others of the remarkable tapestries can be seen here and here.
Traditional Festivals
We have been delivering flyers to advertise the show, Until the Day Break, today. A face gate made me smile so here it is for you.
Lots of teeth and gold hair!
I went to Daisy Rain Vintage to find accessories for my costume for the show. No luck, sadly but I did find this delightful hat in a shop further down the hill.
Spring hat
Today we have continued our architectural tour of Paris in the 3rd and 4th arondissements. We have found Angels in stone and in wrought iron, Angels with lions and Angels with lyres, on walls and porticoes and on Notre Dame, feeding squirrels and holding shields. We have walked streets and lanes and discovered byways and parks we would never have found but for our angel hunt. Join us on our adventure. We have walked miles!
Notre Dame Cathedral from the rose bed.
These and another pair can be found on the pediment of the Hotel Soubrise. The little pile of wood that one Angel sits on, a fascine, is for making parapets. They date from 1708.
These two from 1914 are raising the coat of arms of Saintonge. The pair across the arch represent Bretagne. They are each a boy and girl pair which seems quite unusual.
These two lovely little boy Angels date from 1660 and were sculpted by Thomas Regnaudin, whose work can also be found in the fountains of Versailles.
Here is a sweet little figure feeding a squirrel and next a chubby little chap with curly hair representing Love.
On the way around we passed a spectacular macaron shop and, truly, we did pass and didn’t go in!
Going through such little streets we came across lots of artisan shops – among them a music shop, a repairs shop and a prestidigitation store.
Lastly, near our hotel we found a basement allotment!
The following, while not conventionally beautiful, touched us both with the terrible story it tells and the appositeness in the political wind blowing through some parts of Western democracy.
What an exhilarating spectacle to witness! The Man Engine, on his journey through Cornwall, called in at Redruth today and was greeted by singers and an enormous crowd despite the Cornish mist, which actually seemed quite appropriate. Here he is at full height, 10.5 meters. Even at rest he is the size of a double decker bus. The slide show below will give you a sense of his rising above the crowd. He can still be seen at various sites as he works his way West through the mining areas of Cornwall. Check out his journey by clicking here.
Kernow: the horn-shaped granite kingdom of Cornwall thrusts itself out into the Atlantic Ocean. We are a tiny 0.02% of the planet’s surface yet beneath our rocky shores can be found samples of more than 90% of all mineral species ever identified! Millions of years in the making, the geology of Cornwall is unique. This unbelievable geological treasure (Copper, Tin, Arsenic, Lead, Zinc, Silver, etc) has powered the Cornish people’s endeavour through over 4000 years of mining history: innovation, triumph and heartbreak.
In July 2006 the Cornish mining landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This recognition puts our engine houses, miners’ cottages, grand gardens and miles of labyrinthine underground tunnels on a par with international treasures like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.
The Man Engine project celebrates the ‘Tinth’ anniversary of our World Heritage status as well as the successes and the struggles of the real people whose lives shaped the Cornish Mining Story.
You can read more about him here https://medium.com/balweyth-cornish-mining/the-man-engine-3ad03eff55fb#.u51q3q69c
This is my video of a short part of the Ceremony. https://youtu.be/fq1c47hXaRo
We walked around the Churchyard today and visited inside the Church for the first time. The stained glass on the door, done by Julie Shedd, was just lovely and the beautiful railings around the bell tower were made by a blacksmith called Lisa Harrison who trades as Smythick Forge. It was such a pleasure and a surprise to find such beautiful modern art work inside the Church. The doors are so welcoming to those entering the Church and so perfect for the Mining Church of Redruth.
Stained glass window by Julie Shedd
Part of the gates made by Lisa Harrison.
A gravestone
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