In the Frame

The National Trust used a popular part of the Lake District and one of Tarn Hows favoured aspects for their "Framing the View" initiative to encourage people to take one of their Great British Walks and discover wildlife, hidden heritage and of course the views of the area. It also proved popular with families and friends to have their photograph taken in the frame.  It was only a temporary installation from September to November (this photo was taken in October) and provided much fun.  Not too far away there is another frame

near the Grizedale Forest.  I think the idea behind this is probably better than the actuality as it looks rather inelegant in reality but the autumn colour of the tree in the distance improves and boosts it no end

Tree and frame (on the right) are located  by what was Grizedale Hall.. This terrace is all that remains of a 40 room country mansion built in 1903 and sold to the Forestry Commission who demolished iit n 1957 for unknown reasons.  Its claim to fame is that it was a German prisoner of war camp during WW2 and was the setting for the POW film "The One That Got Away" starring Hardy Kruger playing the part of the Luftwaffe pilot and POW escapee Franz von Werra

What was a window in the romantic ruin of Frith Hall frames one of the surrounding views from its hillock in the Duddon Valley,

you could still light a fire in its fireplace and watch the stars.  

Lastly here is a frame in France located in the grounds of the Poète ferrailleur a museum recreating the "wonder of childhood" which I have shown before  in a previous ABC round, but not this frame.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet.

Ewe Looking At Me

Wandering by the Rusland Pool beck this ewe was keeping an eye on me, as I was her

with her embellishment which is a practical identification but also gives her a blue punk style I found enchanting.

Returning back along the trail  she was still there but now taking her ease in the sun and still posing. Despite there being about 3 million sheep in the county I never tire of taking pictures of them, they don't fly or flutter away, hide in the undergrowth or have any camouflage. Of course it depends on the breed but these ones are placid, their thick wool making them look round and plump like this . 

The artist  is Reece Ingram who says he is "fascinated how closely the sheep resemble the landscape they live on. Each sheep looks like a gathering of hills". He too is fond of sheep and has made many representations in stone and sandstone.  This is one is made of oak, the national tree of England, like the sheep it has endurance in all weathers.  It is one of six called "Sethera" in Ridding Wood.  I could only spot four so the other two must be hidden somewhere waiting to be found. Or should I say I could only spot methera and the other tyan are hidden for the artist has used the old shepherds counting system and sethera means six. Long gone out of use its final death-knell I imagine with the 1870 education act providing schooling for all.  Each valley had its own counting system although they had their similarities.  The method may have be been brought here by the Celts or Norsemen in the ancient past.  Today only one (or should I say yan) is used in dialect; yan =1, such as  "can I have yan of them"

Ready to count?   1 yan, 2 tyan, 3 tethera, 4 methera, 5 pimp, 6 sethera, 7 lethera, 8 hovera, 9 dovra, 10 dick, 11 yan a dick, 12 tyan a dick, 13 tethera a dick, 14 methera a dick, 15 bumfit 16 yan a bumfit, 17 tyan a bumfit, 18 tether a bumfit, 19 methera a bumfit and 20 figgot.  In some parts of the county 15 is mimph but the child in me prefers to say bumfit.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet. 

 

First Snow of the Season

Today it has been endless rain so being an optimist and in anticipation of the clear days to come here is the first snow on the hills from earlier in the week.  Cold and ice on the tops but

 

as can be seen warm enough for shorts for this cyclist on the Grizedale Forest paths.

See the skies around the world at SkyWatch Friday

Mea Culpa

Walking through Grizedale Forest a figure spotted in the distance in the dappled shade.  Was it running?

Coming closer I discovered the figure was not running but pulling.  Both figures connected by the rope.

His face gazing sightless the rope behind and around his neck.  A struggle between two joined figures

One being hoisted into the air.

The two larger than life figures (about 10 feet or 3 metres) are a sculpture called "Mea Culpa" (My mistake) by the artist Robert Bryce Muir.  Seeing it in its deep forest setting it is like seeing some ancient cullture in the silence of the forest being continually enacted.  Are they working together or against each other.  I think the atmosphere will alter with the seasons. 

 It is interesting to see how the strips on the tree echoes the strips of riveted metal of the figures.

I discover Muir's explanation of his installation is that the figures are locked in a mutually dependent struggle for survival .  "A clash of titans and neither will yield like the final conflict between Achilles and Hector in Homer's Iliad, a monumental struggle which is both a flight to the death but also a fight for life".

Footnote
Achilles is the hero of the Iliad he is the son of the king of the Myrmidons and when he refuses to fight to annoy Agamemnon the Greek commander his gentle and amiable friend Patroclus appears in the armour of Achilles at the head of the Myrmidons and is slain by Hector. Now you know this is not going to end well. Hector is portrayed by Homer as the noblest and most magnanimous of the Trojans but that will not save him for after holding out for ten years he is killed by Achilles.  "Alas the gods have lured me to my destruction..."  Here is the story of the end of Hector and Achilles.

An entry to ABC Wednesday - journey through the alphabet. 

 

Look Yonder

 Yo sandstone fox what are you looking at yonder? 

Nope, I can't see it, not a yap, I'm off 

The sandstone fox has stood near Bogle Crag since 1991 and is the work of Gordon Young, a local artist who specialises in public art and  has a fondness for typographic installations. The cursing stone in his home town of Carlisle caused some controversy for he made an ancient curse (of 1525) manifest in the shape of a granite boulder. Floods and foot and mouth disease coincided in the aftermath of its  installation, yikes. 

Happily his latest project in the seaside town of Blackpool is on a lighter note.  The Comedy Carpet is a 2,220m² granite pavement of jokes , songs and catchphrases of comedians and writers who have appeared on the town's stages over the decades. Located on near Blackpool Tower it looks like this

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet from A to Z

      

A Woodland Walk Through Winding Wingnuts

Take a walk in the the woods and there may be more than moss and leaves growing on trees especially in Grizedale Forest, well known for its sculptures and art works scattered across its acreage sometimes on paths sometimes tucked away off the trails. One of the lower paths accessible for both walkers and wheelchairs has suddenly sprouted some brass wing-nuts.

   I wondered what they were when we turned the corner onto this path

And as they appeared to go through the trees, what was the purpose of the bowl on the other side.

I wondered if they turned, yes, they clunked I turned it round with no resistance.  I moved on if I had stuck with it until experiencing resistance then this would have happened:

What a super surprise I would have got if this sound had floated out into the summer air.  I discovered , thanks to the internet, that this is "The Clockwork Forest" by the art collective greyworld, only installed in October 2011. Its idea is that of the untold fairytale, and the secret stories and distant sounds of the forest.

So amongst the wind rustling through the leaves one could sit here and get someone to wind this up and let the tinkling sound drift on the air.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a walk through the alphabet from A to Z