I've just found my oldest and biggest fish dead on the ground about 6 mts away from the pond. It looks as if something has had a bit of a nibble around the poor fishes mouth. What does this? Is it birds, we have lots of gulls around here,or is it cats? I thought if an animal caught the fish to eat all of it would have been eaten. This is the seond time this has happened, if you remember I found the white fish with the gold head dead on the grass back in the summer. I don't qiuite know what to do about this problem. Down to three fish for over wintering now. :-((

Seaton Cliffs October 2010

More reasons never to move away from the sea.

Rough Seas

I just happened to be out walking one day last week when I came upon this scene with the waves breaking over the road. It was unexpected, the weather was not particularly windy or cold and I didn't realise that it was time for one of the highest tides of the year. I love the sea, especially when it looks like this and I really don't think I could bear to live inland....EVER!!!

Art Sunday; Harris Tweed.

I have been out and about this weekend; I went to a small art exhibition of local artists and stopped by a couple of craft shops selling local hand made goods. While at the art exhibition I found myself in conversation with a couple who were on holiday in the area but had lived all their lives in the small Hebridian Island of Harris.

As we talked, the conversation turned to the remarkable success of the islands best known export, Harris Tweed. When you think of Harris Tweed you aromatically conjure up images of men in hunting jackets out amongst the heather shooting pheasant, well I have to tell you, the product has changed.

All of the quality remains, all of it is still hand made on the Islands but the patterns and designs are not restricted to the traditional mens wear, now you can find soft furnishings, ladies fashion and accessories all made out of Harris Tweed in every colour and pattern imaginable. This is genuinely a local cottage craft practiced by artisans that became a global export industry.

From the website
http://www.harristweedhebrides.com/

Harris Tweed has been described as “the Champagne of fabrics” and;
 is the only fabric in the world governed by  its own Act of Parliament.
This legal status was reached in a 1993 Act of Parliament (before this Harris Tweed was protected by Common Law Trademark Certification) and this legislation underpins the unique status of Harris Tweed.

The law decrees that genuine Harris Tweed must be made from pure virgin wool which has been dyed and spun on the islands and handwoven at the home of the weaver in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The cloth is then returned to the mill for finishing. Only then can it be given the famous Orb stamp which authenticates it. Each piece of tweed can be traced back to the individual home weaver.

Harris Tweed is about quality and style as well as history and heritage.  It is the fabric of choice for many of the world’s leading designers as well as their most discerning clients.

And while best-known for its role as a fashion fabric, Harris Tweed is also used increasingly by discerning designers for interiors, furnishings and accessories.

In the mid-19th century, the Isle of Harris was owned by the Earl of Dunmore and his wife, Lady Dunmore, who first saw the potential for selling this fabric, produced by the tenants on their looms, to her acquaintances in London.

As its reputation grew, and Harris Tweed was embraced by royalty, the industry had to adapt to commercial production, while maintaining the crucial requirement that it must be handwoven at the home of the weaver.
Success led to imitations and legal protection was sought for the genuine article.

The Harris Tweed Association was formed in 1909 and the adoption, a year later, of the world-famous Orb trade mark, which authenticates genuine Harris Tweed. This provided common law protection as a certification trademark and this provided the basis for The Act of Parliament which was finally passed in 1993.

As Harris Tweed boomed, the Hattersley domestic loom was introduced in the 1930s and could be found in more than 1000 Hebridean homes for the next half century. The industry brought prosperity to the island economy when there was little else to sustain it.

With fashion and lifestyle changes, there was a decline in sales from the 1980s. In response to market demands, a double-width handloom was developed and then introduced in the 1990s, bringing a period of stability to the industry.

However, there was a desperate need for improved marketing and new ideas. The Shawbost mill closed in 2005, was taken over by the new company Harris Tweed Hebrides in 2007 and we now account for over 90 per cent of Harris Tweed production. Like Harris Tweed itself, a great Hebridean success story!

In the mid-19th century, the Isle of Harris was owned by the Earl of Dunmore and his wife, Lady Dunmore, who first saw the potential for selling this fabric, produced by the tenants on their looms, to her acquaintances in London.

As its reputation grew rapidly, and Harris Tweed was embraced by royalty, the industry had to be adapted to commercial production – while still maintaining the crucial requirement that it must be handwoven at the home of the weaver.

Success led to imitations and legal protection was sought for the genuine article. The Harris Tweed Association was formed in 1909 and the adoption, a year later, of the world-famous Orb trade mark, which authenticates genuine Harris Tweed. This provided common law protection as a certification trademark and this provided the basis for The Act of Parliament which was finally passed in 1993.

As Harris Tweed boomed, the Hattersley domestic loom was introduced in the 1930s and could be found in more than 1000 Hebridean homes for the next half century. The industry brought prosperity to the island economy when there was little else to sustain it.

Changing lifestyles led to a decline in sales from the 1980s onwards but the introduction of a double-width handloom was developed and introduced in the 1990s which bought a period of stability to the industry.

There was still a need to update ideas and designs. This resulted in the present company ‘Harris Tweed Hebrides’, which took over 90% of the business in  2007, branching out into accessories, ladies fashions and soft furnishings.

Art Sunday; Fire

I thought I was going to have an easy day today, unfortunately that was not to be. My heating system broke and I’ve spent the day trying to contact electricians. Fortunately I don’t think it’s serious  and at least it   happened now and not when the weather is at its coldest. Sitting here in my little house with no heating on this rather chilly autumn day my thoughts turned to fire. Fire has always fascinated artists, and I don’t just mean painters. Fire is spectacular, fascinating, beautiful, deadly and unrelenting. Taming fire has been a quest of man since earliest times, we tame it use it and even play with it………….

This is a very interesting PDF file I found about one of the best known paintings of a Forest fire. The painting was by the Russian artist
Aleksei Kuz’mich Denisov-Uralsky and was originally titled Lesnoi pozhar
(Forest Fire). This painting has been copied and adapted by many artists many times.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~spyne/UNTAMEDART.pdf

painting

The painting at the top of the page is a bit of a mystery. The only thing it had written under it was ‘’street glow by lawson’’…………and that's all I known. It looks like a picture of a street lit by the living flame of  gas lamps.

This is called  "Wildfire" by an artist called Marina Petro based in  Saratoga Springs, NY USA

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons (1835) by J. M. W. Turner is one of the many paintings he did of the fire. Turner witnessed this fire and returned to the subject over and over again.

No need to introduce this one,   

The Ancient of Days  1794, William Blake

These are videos of people dancing with fire, its mesmerizing to watch and oddly beautiful,

 

Died 40 years ago; Janis Joplin

Hard to believe she died forty years ago. What a loss, I always believed she had so much more to give.

 

http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/j/Janis%20%20Joplin/janis_joplin.htm
 

Song saturday; Three tenors

Music to lift the spirits, already the first term of this academic year is over, today was the last day of the first term. This is the shortest of our academic terms, it only lasts about 6 weeks but those 6 weeks can feel like 6 months. Now I have a couple of weeks rest and maybe some time to catch up on a few things.