Engine Inn

This pub sign is certainly a work of art.  The inn is 17th Century so in contrast to that the scene is modern. I would image that the original meaning of The Engine Inn might refer to a beer engine, one that pumped the beer up through the pumps from the cellar. But this sign is appropriate because for past 4 decades in the nearby Cark Airfield there is a Steam Gathering with vintage steam vehicles used in agriculture, industry and on roads.

An entry to Signs, Signs

ABC Wednesday - Xylogenous

We have reached the tricky letter X for this week's ABC Wednesday so its a browse through the short dictionary entry, and the result - Xylogenous, a biological term for growing on wood.   The fungi growing on this tree is the wonderfully named Dryad's Saddle, named after those mythical tree nymphs the Dryads, who it would seem were just the right size to ride one of these.   The Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus) is edible but not recommended when it gets to this size.  As the guide says soft at first then tough.  It tiers on trunks of living or dead trees, especially elm or sycamore.

The other grower on wood, lichen, on a fence pole pictured on a snowy day.  A long hard winter like the one that is now long behind us is sometimes called a Blackthorn Winter

and every branch of this Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) bush if not covered with moss is covered with the shrubby Ramalina farinacea lichen.  It must be a very old bush but is always laden with sloe berries in autumn. In fact my last lot of Sloe Gin was made from this tree, and the end result was eXcellent.

eXit to ABC Wednesday where there are lots more words starting with X

ABC Wednesday - Weirs

The River Leven drains from Windermere but when it reaches Backbarrow the terrain gives it a steep fall so the weirs perform their task well at this point of altering a rivers flow and preventing flooding. In the past this water flow allowed industrial use of the river for mills and ironworks. Nowadays the water just gives its name to a hotel, The Whitewater. 

A gentler flow in a tributary of the River Kent which has a weir mechanism on one of the flows, the people in the camp site lower down can rest easy at night. Some weir mechanisms are more elaborate

although this one in France did not seem to have a lot of water coming down it, and was very still

on the other side. I think the metal work would be tempting for a small boy to walk across

although this one on the River Findhorn as it flows through the town of Forres in Scotland is so much better to launch your boat down or test your fishing net.

An entry for ABC Wednesday, a journey from A to Z
Whiz over to ABC Wednesday to see more words beginning with W

Where the Woodbine Twines

I often see these little vans out and about from Woodbine Dairies, delivering their products. Its a pretty W on the side. This one is parked outside the Braddylls Arms which invites, on the wall:

 

An entry to Signs, Signs

ABC Wednesday - Verdant

I did a double take when I passed this municipal planting on Sunday, a bit of serendipity for this weeks letter. The verdant grass had been cut and new plants, arranged and designed, I will have to wait for the rain and sunshine to do its work to see what the other symbols will grow into and what it is commemorating. But this week I am celebrating the verdant countryside, and the reason we passed this planting was to walk along

the seawall, and then to the seashore. The elderflower growing on the banking.  It does not seem long ago

that the bluebells were diluting the verdant green with their intense blue, and the

dandelions had made their first appearance, in profusion, as if to alert the gardeners, hey we are back, the great survivors. 

But eventually the fields will turn a lush and

verdant green in the valleys

and on the coast with the patchwork fields.

Vault over to ABC Wednesday where there are lots more words starting with V

Harmonic Fields

I posted the pictures from the Harmonic Fields event (an artistic installation of aeolian wind powered instruments, a soundscape) yesterday, but there were not only wind catchers but lots of lovely signs.

I appeared to be the only person taking photos of them, now I am sure if the participants of the Lesley's Signs, Signs meme had have been there it would have been a different story.

The signs were everywhere,  most with the different winds of the world like

the "Pampero, westerly wind in the Rio de la Plata", then underneath the musical term 'presto'.  And some more esoteric words

like Labyrinth, well actually Labyrinthe, the French spelling for the the art company are French. This sign stands on part of a limestone pavement, a geological feature of the location of Birkrigg Common.

An entry to Signs, Signs

ABC Wednesday - Near Ulverston

Strange sounds were heard on the upland near the small town of Ulverston where usually sheep graze, people walk their dogs and children play.  Strange objects on the top making noises  Boom, bang, clank clink wizz, howl. We were here on Friday when the sky was blue, the sun was warm but not a lot of wind just a

zephyr which meant that the wind was not whistling this corridor but there was still things to hear

and to see

Dancing to the sounds

Or just the closing of eyes and relaxing

But watch out for the UFOs

There is Ulverston clustered down below as the contraptions whirl on Birkrigg Common.

This was Harmonic Fields brought to the area at the beginning of June by Lieux publics (France) as part of the Lakes Alive 2011 events. 500 instruments creating a musical soundscape.  Here is a video from someone who was here here at the weekend on a greyer but windier day

Visit ABC Wednesday for lots more words beginning with the letter U

Power to the People

Here we have a record cover from back in the time when you bought singles as vinyl rather than a download. Power to the People was John Lennon's fourth single with the Plastic Ono Band. Issued in March 1971 it spent 9 weeks in the charts, highest point number 7. Like 'Give Peace A Chance' John wrote this for people to sing. In the cover photo he is wearing a Japanese riot police helmet. Showing his revolutionary credentials.

An entry to Sunday Scans, a meme to resurrect the analogue.

Sunny Jim

I'd heard the expression Sunny Jim used but never realised until this weekend that it was an actually person, well not exactly living but a character promoting wheat flakes.  With the help of Wikipedia here is the verse from 1902:

Jim Dumps was a most unfriendly man,
Who lived his life on the hermit plan;
In his gloomy way he'd gone through life,
And made the most of woe and strife;
Till Force one day was served to him
Since then they've called him "Sunny Jim

 The day was suitably sunny when I saw this sign at the The Green railway stop serving the narrow gage  train

in the Eskdale valley.

An entry for Signs, Signs