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Sunday 31 July 2011

Art In Action

Art in Action, held at Waterperry House near Oxford, is an event I've heard a lot about but never got round to visiting due to the travelling distance. We've often visited galleries or artists in their studios but nothing on as large a scale. Anyway, this year we decided to go. Tickets were bought well in advance - not something I often do as I'm always too concerned about the changeability of English weather and my inclination to change my mind at the last minute but there were good discounts to be had for early booking - and we were all organised, ready to go on Saturday. BUT, midweek our dog fell seriously ill, probably from drinking pondwater, and everything was put on hold. On Friday it didn't seem at all likely that we'd be going but fortunately the tickets were for any day of the event, by Saturday morning Dylan the dog seemed well on the way to recovery and we started to tentatively put together a plan for Sunday. We were all up and about at an hour that we don't normally manage even during the school week, Dylan taken to spend the day with grandparents and we were off!! Not a lot of traffic on the motorway - Sunday after all - but first a warning for 'debris on carriageway' and then the more alarming 'oncoming vehicle' sign! Oncoming vehicle! On a motorway! Fortunately we didn't meet it and arrived safely at Waterperry House a little later than we'd hoped but still with most of the day ahead. I'd been told how much there was to see at Art in Action but was still amazed at the space occupied by all the tents and marquees. We wandered round pretty much randomly at first - past the beekeepers' tent, round the International art section - with amongst other things some stunning brightly coloured tapestries from Peruvian textile artist, Maximo Laura - then the painters, printers and calligraphers sections - till we found one of my favourite artist/illustrators, Jackie Morris, surrounded by her paintings, books, badges and bags. I've met Jackie, a generous welcoming lady, several times before - though nearer to her home in Pembrokeshire. The next person we wanted to visit was someone she'd introduced me to on Facebook - Catherine Hyde - and whose work I'd tracked down in a Penzance gallery but never met. I'd happily have come away with any of her dark dream-like paintings but restricted myself to buying a book with words by Carol Ann Duffy and wonderful illustrations by Catherine. Onward then to watch Karen Green demonstrating how she shapes her wonderful copper weathervanes and Liam Reeves blowing glass and showing how goblets are made. Through the textiles and woodwork tents to ceramics where I discovered the deceptively simple but wonderful pots of Charlotte Jones Just time for a quick walk round the gardens with their stunning herbaceous borders before we headed home past some rather unusual vehicles...

Friday 1 July 2011

A Spooky Thing Happened On The Way To The Wood

I've been walking the same route now, almost every morning, for several years - Up past the playing fields and round the little wood with open views to Derbyshire at the far side. At first I walked alone, then with husband and/or Dylan the Dog. Many friends thought it was strange, if not downright dangerous, to walk unaccompanied but I've never felt worried or threatened by it till this morning.
Just Dylan and I went today and as we walked up the field he was playing his normal games pretending to throw and catch his ball on a string and generally sniffing here and there and bouncing about.
Then... a man walked round a bend in the path quite a way in front of us and Dylan immediately came and walked "at heel" by my side, keeping his eyes on the man approaching us. Now, Dylan will walk "at heel' when told to, or at the end of a walk when he's finished romping, but to stop in the middle of his games and behave this way is unusual. There didn't appear to be anything odd about this man - he was probably just someone using the field as a short cut from shops or leisure centre to his house - but Dylan came to my side as if to guard me, which was bizarrely worrying. Had he picked up some vibe from this man that I hadn't? Did he remind Dylan of someone from his past before he came to us? Usually when we meet dogs that Dylan dislikes he detours from his route to avoid them - and the same has happened a couple of times with people - teens in school uniform for example. All of which made today's behaviour so extraordinary and disturbing. Dylan really had me thinking that we should avoid this man.
Luckily, he turned off onto a different path so we didn't have to walk past him. After that, we met dog walkers, mothers with toddlers and pushchairs, two guys gossiping on a bench - the normal sort of folk I'd expect to see - and Dylan didn't bat an eye at any of them. It was only the one man that he seemed to feel a need to protect me from.
A bizarrely disturbing experience,