Daubuz Moors in my Espadrilles

Our Window Cleaner who is the fount of all knowledge about Truro and Trees told me about Daubuz Moors. He said it was a great place to walk and get out in the countryside, even though it is close to Truro City centre.

I had never heard of it, even though we have been living in Truro for over two years now, and apparently it is only fifteen minutes walk from home.

This morning when I got up I was debating what shoes to wear; as it looked like a nice day and the sun was shining I thought I would wear my Espadrilles without socks. I hadn't intended to go far.

I went for a walk in the town sat in Costa, had a Coffee, and read a book for a bit. Then then Daubuz Moors came to mind so I thought I would try and find it and see what it was like, mainly to see if it was a place that Davina and I could to for a walk on a nice day.

I left Costa and within about five minutes I was in Daubuz Moors. I entered gate and followed the main path; it took me through some trees, under the Viaduct, and past a couple of  open meadows.

The path was getting a bit muddy, but I walked on and came to agate that led back to the road. A lady dog walker told me it was the end of the path. I was a bit disappointed because I expected to see the River Allen, one of the rivers that runs through Truro.

So I sat on a seat just inside the gate and rolled a cigarette; 

The path on the right leads to the river

in the distance I cold see another lady dog walker in the trees at the other side of the meadow. It turned out she was by the river. So I walked down the path, which was not muddy, to the River Allen:

On the way to the river I saw a lady pushing a bike. I asked her if the path by the river was muddy. She said it wasn't as muddy as the main path (she lied):

Boardwalk built by our Window Cleaner and his team

Despite the mud (it wasn't too bad) it was a beautiful walk, the river was gorgeous, so was the Gunnera 

As I walked along, the Viaduct came back into view:

The River Allen runs through Truro, very close to the Cathedral:

I had very lovely walk. I recommend it to everyone. If you live in Truro or visit occasionally, I suggest you find it and try it.

But, if you do wear Wellies, walking boots, or old trainers. Not Espadrilles:

PS.

I've washed  them since the walk and they look good again now.

Alice, be gone, the Nether hut is full of Trappists

“Alice, be gone, the Nether hut is full of Trappists”, is what I have called my latest piece of work. It is a Triptych. I have wanted a triptych for years and have thought about making one many times.

What is a Triptych? I can hear you ask. A triptych is a peace of artwork that is in three sections. The sections can be hinged together so that the outer sections can be folded shut, or left open to display the pictures. If you want find out more about what a Triptych is click on the Blue word and it will take you to Wikipedia and you can explore the history of the triptych from there.

Here is “Alice, be gone, the Nether hut is full of Trappists” with the side panels closed:

And here it is open:

I created my triptych by using pictures that I scanned from a book, had them photocopied and the transferred the pictures on to the prepared wood.

Transferring pictures is something I have experimented with for a while and am trying to perfect.  For me the effect is good as it is supposed to look fairly ancient.

I like the centre panel very much but my favourite picture is the one of the ram on the top left had side. That’s an image I really like and would like to do more with it if I was able to get copyright free images. A common image in Cornwall is the Lamb and Flag but I can never find a good enough picture that I can play about with and transfer. So if you know of such an image that is free to use please let me know.

Here are few pictures of the work in progress:

The picture below show a similar coaster to this one, which I cut in half and painted gold

Why “Alice, be gone, the Nether hut is full of Trappists”? The answer is I don’t really know. The phrase just came into my head (weird head!), and it seemed, to me, to fit the picture. Although originally the last word was: ‘Trappers’, but Trappists gave it an older feel, so that is what I went for.

Just as an aside, the word program I use to type these notes doesn’t like the word ‘Trappists’, and wants to replace it with ‘Rapists’. 

I see a brown chair...

…and I want it painted black.

You may remember, from an earlier post, that I renovated a table and made it into a desk for my computer:

When I was planning the desk I tried to get some high gloss black paint. I couldn’t get what I wanted off the shelf so I had to have it made up, which meant I had to buy a 1 litre tin.

So now everything I paint has to be black (I feel an Henry Ford moment coming on).

When I bought a framed Paul Klee print it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

I purloined a lovely mirror from some friends who had it stored in a barn. When I got it, it was dusty, dark brown, and in need of some repair. It now looks like this:

And I still had three quarters of a litre of black paint.

Recently I wanted to find a chair that I could use at my desk. I have been using a very nice M&S garden chair since we moved to Truro, but I wanted one that went with the desk.

So I looked around various places and found the perfect chair (perfect once it was painted black) in a charity warehouse.

It need some repair to the seat, and needed reupholstering:

Some people thought I should keep its original colour, but for me it had to be black, with a splash of colour:

I'm really pleased with it, but I haven't sat on it yet, I am waiting for the paint to harden.

So, if you want something painted black, I'm your man!

I still have two thirds of a litre left.

Still Tracking Travis

Do you remember this picture of Travis who had a very traumatic birth in November 2010?


This was the picture I took about 30 seconds after he was born:

Last weekend I visited the farm as usual and went to see Travis, he is now just under 18 months old:

Isn't  he magnificent!

The fact that he is so well is down to the care given by Malcolm (above with Travis) and his wife Carla.

Well done you two.

Allotment 5: Water Butt World

There is only one water supply at the allotments and we are not allowed to use hosepipes. So after the guttering was fitted we got a couple of water butts. We needed to get the done quickly so that we could get them full before the hot summer weather sets in (LOL):

Again I used a bit of Gaffa tape and a dogs ball to help me:

We have also managed to put a shelf in the shed: