A Few More Sculptures

One of the first sculptures that we saw on Saturday was the beetle sculpture in Anchor Square. Despite the sign requesting people not to climb on it I did wonder quite what abuse it had to stand up to by late night revellers.

When we had said goodbye to Barbara we made our way up towards Bristol Cathedral. Situated in the Cathedral garden is The Refugee by Norma Blake a survivor of the Holocaust. The statue is dedicated to all victims of racial persecution.

We then circled around College Green which is situated at the bottom of the busy Park St which itself is dominated by the Wills Memorial Building.

College Green was a hive of activity with students and other youngsters enjoying the sunshine. I hope to blog more of this later in the week. 

The green has two main buildings. The first is the Bristol Council buildings in a semi circle above the green. The Bristol Unicorns are found on either end of the roof and have been part of the City's common seal since 1569.

                                                                    

The sculpture in the centre of the council building depicts an Elizabethan Seaman. The city council apparently claim that this is not John Cabot despite Cabot's long association with Bristol from where he sailed in1490 on the Mathew to subsequently discover Newfoundland.

                                                                     

The second building is Bristol Cathedral. The next sculpture on our trail is situated in the forefront. Raja Ram Mohun Roy an Indian humanist and religious reformer.

The trail continues over a 2 and a half mile circuit. Time restraints limited us to just one more that we spied through an archway and depicts a horse and man on the site of a nineteenth century horse market.

It was a great day and we look forward to our next get together.

      

Reflections of a Bloggers Meet Up

I was delighted today to meet up in Bristol with some fellow bloggers. Helena from Helena's Creative Maven kindly arranged our get together with Barbara from  From My View and Miriam from Miriam's Blog. We were just sorry that Eileen from In My Playroom was unable to join us.

We met just off the centre on the waterfront in the busy harbour area. Whereas in days gone by this was a thriving area of shipping commerce it is now a popular tourist and leisure area.

There is a mix of old and new buildings around the docks.

It was certainly buzzing on a sunny Saturday lunchtime and after eating we went for a walk following part of the Bristol Sculpture Trail. Many of the modern sculptures we saw were based around Millennium Square. Probably one of the most popular is the Aquarena Water sculpture that consists of flowing water with stainless steel columns and black marble  pools. A great hit with the youngsters on a warm day.

The reflected colours and the sheets of water are very effective.

What an ideal spot for a joint bloggers selfie with a difference!

Once we started there was no stopping us! Another joint reflective selfie opportunity using the large mirrored globe.

We were not in need of the solar phone charger. A mixture of different phone plugs were available to use making the most of the sunshine.

And we were rather taken with Bill and Bob.

We had a wander around the other bronze statues including William Tyndale who translated the New Testament into English.

William Penn a Quaker who oversaw the founding of Pennsylvania. 

The detail of these figures is quite remarkable.

We were perhaps most taken with Thomas Chatterton a boy poet who died in 1770 aged 17 after taking arsenic. Helena posed with him for us.

Then it was time for a team photo kindly taken by Miriam's son.

We then said goodbye to Barbara before visiting some more sculptures.

I shall save the rest for another day!

A Walk from Melłs

It was with hesitation that I left home this morning for our monthly walk and talk. The weather has been sunny all week but when I woke up this morning it was raining. Brian cheerfully announced that as the rain had only just started it was likely to rain for some time. Great! It continued to rain as I set off in the car with a fellow walker. Yes I was tempted to opt out but didn't for two reasons. Firstly I always bring along their month's supply of eggs and potatoes to sell and as Margaret our "leader" said herself we are all too scared of her not to come!

When we arrived in Mells which is an affluent village between Radstock and Frome it was raining heavily. Fortunately our meeting point was outside the Post Office/ Cafe so we didn't need much persuasion to dash in there for a steaming coffee. The rain had subsided by the time we had had a leisurely drink and off we set.

The first part of the walk followed a path along the river through woodland. 

We had a few dousings of soft rain off the trees but it quickly dried up. The river was beautiful and peaceful.

We met a lady with some a group of dogs (about 6 in total) two of whom were having a great time in the river.

We passed some interesting houses and buildings along the way.

The return journey was along the Colliers way which follows the path of a disused railway and then eventually after just under 5 miles we dropped back down in Mells behind the church.

To the right side of the church is the Manor House where the Horner family originally lived. Our walk details told us that the rhyme Little Jack Horner originates from a Jack Horner who built the house but from what I have subsequently read on the internet this is probably not true.

The churchyard had a curious back gate with a wooden device that we could not fathom what it was for. It was suggested it could be used for exercise!

There was then a fine avenue of yew trees again rather unusual for the back of a church.

We spent some time looking at some of the gravestones including that of the First World War poet Siegried Sasoon.

Then that of Ronald Knox who produced a new translation of the bible.

We had a glimpse of the front of the church before heading to the pub for a well deserved lunch.

After a very good lunch we visited a walled garden. I will save those photos for another day. We then wandered back to the cars with a few grumbles about the price of drinks in the pub. Can they really be justified in charging £4 for a lemonade, more than the price of a real ale? 

On the way we passed the very large village war memorial.

And also stopped to admire two beautiful wisteria plants.

It turned out to be a lovely day and how lucky were we that the only rain was while we were in the pub and on the way home in the car!

Wednesday 27th May: Hidden Clematis

I promised yesterday that I had saved two photos for Helena's Pairs today. When taking photos in mum's garden the other day we found a clematis hidden behind some other shrubs. This is from below.

Then from their balcony I took one from above.

Emerging Crop

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of the seed potatoes being planted which you can see here. The Sunday before last I took this picture of the barley and the potato field still looking like bare earth.

Exactly a week later on last Sunday things are beginning to change.

The brown in the distance is turning green as you can see more clearly in this last photo.

The potato shoots are emerging.

Shades of Pink

Does my mother's garden have predominantly pink flowers at the moment or have I just focused in on these to take? Her garden as always is looking beautiful and I have captured a few highlights on my last visit.

Her apricot foxgloves are further on than mine.

She has a large fig tree which has had to be pruned back in recent years. It has a healthy amount of fruit on it that I know both of my girls will be checking out as they ripen.

I am saving two photos for tomorrow's pairs.