Birthday Central & Jewellery

These few weeks are Birthday Central!   Happy 9th birthday to the twins, who both decorated their own cakes and thoroughly enjoyed their party.  It was a lovely party. Boy Twin had been making long lists and planning it in various different ways for weeks, Girl Twin was happy to just enjoy it whatever happened.  They both completely entered into making and icing their own cakes (with a bit of parental help.)

The next birthday coming up is next week, when K. has hers. The following week it's F's birthday. And we have just also had a great birthday meal with Young A.   He's now 18 and will be leaving school next year.  He usually drops by to see us every week or two and it is always good to hang out with, so it was an honour to join him and others in Winchester for a great meal in a friendly pub just opposite the medieval City Mill, a watermill which once ground most of the town's flour.     Here is the view through the stone balustrades of the bridge. 

The mill now belongs to the National Trust but it used to be a youth hostel, and a very memorable one it was too.  After we left the pub, T. and I had a little walk around the city centre, watched the mill race rushing beneath the bridge, and remembered staying there long ago when we were young. There was a cavernous space used as a common room, and very few modern conveniences.  We recalled being told stories by older hostellers about how in their past, the the living accommodation had been so primitive that the men had to haul water up from the mill race if they wanted to wash.   I never went into the men's washroom myself, but T said that they also had to tip their basins of dirty water back into the mill race, even though by then, cold taps and basic electric light had been installed.  

Young people can take quite a bit of discomfort in their stride, and we caught the end of the period when many YHA buildings supplied discomfort with great generosity. Despite this, many of the ancient buildings were incredibly old, beautiful and atmospheric.  They had become hostels in the 1920s or 1930s, when out of date stuff like watermills or decaying mansions were considered a liability, and ideal for providing basic accommodation for hikers and cyclists.  (These days, of course,  they are considered priceless, and would sell for millions.)  I'm so glad I had the chance to stay in so many of them.  

In its hostel days, the Mill retained its old machinery (which didn't work at the time,  though I believe it has now been restored) and at night it was extremely dark and full of the noise of the water, which you could also see rushing along if you peeped through the gaps in the massive oak floor boards. The last time I stayed there was at this time of year. It was truly freezing, and clouds of my own breath surrounded my bed all night. In fact I was mildly surprised my breath hadn't spread frost across my pillow by the morning!   

Winchester Mill was,  however, much more comfortable Willy Lott's Cottage in Suffolk, where I had to sleep for a whole week. You may recognise this beautiful old cottage on the left of "The Hay Wain" by Constable.   

It is still there, and I imagine it has now been fully modernised, but words won't convey how awful it was when I stayed there. It was in fact used as accommodation for a Field Studies Council course and we students were doing a course during the day and trying to sleep at night.  Not easy when the place has more or less been built in a pond.  Each night I tossed and turned, figuring that my body heat was evaporating away some of the dampness, but not nearly fast enough. The sheets were far damper and colder than a mere human body could ever manage to make warm!  

Talking of cold, I think and hope we're past the worst of the cold this year. It's been pleasant going out and cycling around and seeing things. Went to the  V & A museum yesterday.  T. was doing something there so I just looked around the first gallery I came to.  It was full of magnificent jewellery.  It's been reorganised recently to explain much more about the background of the treasure on display.  An interesting section on magic and belief had this 15 carat gold bracelet from 1975, which uses gems taken from older jewellery:  lapis lazuli, purple glass, jadeite, almandine garnet, black opal, diamond, green tourmaline, white opal, citrine, bloodstone, pearl and moss agate.  Most of them have traditional meanings or supposed powers, and are just the thing for a rich hippie with money to spare.   

My favourite part was the display of  20th and 21st century work. This piece with its strange face also dates from the 1970s.   

One of the most eye catching modern pieces was a life sized butterfly ring of diamonds and tsavorites, (which are an extremely small and expensive form of green garnet.)  It belonged to the singer Beyonce, and is designed so that if the wearer flexes their fingers, the butterfly's wings flutter. How great is that for a piece of jewellery?   

By contrast, this ring from 2015 looks like a bit of corrugated card fastened with staples, but in fact it's made of patinated silver and white gold.    

In a display of various approaches to rings I spotted one made by someone I knew when I was at college.  I'd seen one of his rings years ago at the V & A and been really impressed at how well he was doing. In those days he was making portrait rings of rich people and their families. I thought it was an attractive idea - you could wear a portrait of your loved ones (or even of yourself) all the time.  This ring was in a non-representational style, featuring something like a bullet held into the mount with wire.  I couldn't get a good picture, unfortunately, but sadly I didn't like it as much as the portraits anyway. 

 

Last weekend we paid a visit to a couple of our local attractions - Kenwood House, where we saw the magnolias in the garden bursting to come out - Spring is on its way.  Kenwood doesn't have closely planted gardens, but there are good displays of spring flowering bulbs (which will be out in March) and lots of shrubs and trees, including several gnarled and venerable magnolias.   The buds were so beautiful, large, furry and full of life, and look at all the plant life these twigs support!

Then we had lunch with some people further down the hill at  Burgh House, a 17th century country gentleman's house which was rescued for the community about 20 years ago. It is now well restored, and popular for various events and it also houses the local museum and art gallery.  Among the items currently on display was this gorgeous  life sized portrait of a fireplace. It is framed in real velvet curtains, and is much prettier than my picture can show as it is partly collaged, and using little sparkly gems.   

 I spent time examining the selection of objects shown including paintbrushes and a little plastic "troll" figure. I also liked the  cat ornaments hidden away at the bottom of the grate, which look quite modern to me despite their formal gaze.     

 

I thought I'd like a mantelpiece picture of my own, and wondered what I'd put in it.  It would need to be be something I was happy to see every day, and which seemed to be about me.  Looking at my real mantelpiece (as, we do have mantelpieces in our Victorian flat) I see lots of quaint little things that belonged to now deceased relatives, and hand-made items people have created for me, so that is what I actually choose to display.  

However, the most striking thing on our main mantelpiece is a very large Victorian Indian-style looking glass that I bought in an auction when I was 20.  It is not in great condition, and the silvering on the mirror has deteriorated to the extent you can't really see your reflection very well.  Nobody ever comments on it being beautiful, so I guess that "eye-catching" may be more the sort of word they have in mind. I often wonder why I keep it but I would be lost without it.  

    

What do you think you would show on your painted mantelpiece ?