Seaton

it has been a very sunny but chilly day. For a change we went for a walk at Seaton. There was not much to see just yet but it is a very pretty wooded valley and a popular place to walk the dogs on a Sunday morning. And every one was happy and smiling.

more about addicroft

well, here is a testament to the power of the web. By looking up Addicroft and coming across this site (link) about memories of Cornwall, I discovered that Addicroft Mill was the home of Thelwell, the amazing cartoonist (this is a link to his site which is well worth a visit if you need cheering up) of fat ponies and oversized riders, amongst much else. His autobiography, which I have not read, is entitled "A millstone round my neck" about this very place. I confess to borrowing this picture from his web site, but I hope it will introduce more people to his humour.

Cornish cattle egrets

and on the way back, there was a little group of cattle egrets standing around in a field (full of cattle). These egrets used to be quite rare but are seen increasingly often in the South West (although probably still quite unusual, see link). They have distinctly yellow beaks, and yellow legs (except in the breeding season when they go red). The last time we saw cattle egrets was in Borneo a year ago in the blazing equatorial sun!

Trenant woods

we were gifted some trees planted in Trenant Wood, a woodland trust wood near Looe so we went for a walk there today to visit them. It is hard going at first but the views are spectacular, down the river Looe to the Looe and the sea. The picture is badly over exposed at the top (it was a very sunny day today) but gives a good impression of the tidal flats above Looe, with the wooded valley on either side.

a visit to eden project 3

I love the imagery of the Bacchanalian orgy in the mediterranean biodome (nothing new then on the planet), and the torpid heat and steam of water vapour in the jungle

a visit to eden project 2

I love the mixture of real and surreal throughout the project, and the juxtapostion of the materialist landscape with the floral landscape. It reminds me of the work of an artist friend called John Howlin. he would have loved the man of parts

a visit to eden project 1

the first view of the biodomes at Eden Project is always impressive simply because of the sheer scale of the site. The middle photograph shows the site on our first fleeting visit in September 2000. We take our visitors there quite often. It has transformed the local economy. And one of our neighbours is on the poster welcoming you to the site. I think the logos might well be just as apt for our blogs

St Agnes in Cornwall

we spent a very pleasant day in and around St Agnes (another name on the long list of obscure Cornish (celtic) saints. St Agnes (see link)seems to be a very busy village, with a carnival that goes back a long time, and in our opinion a place that manages to look after one's spiritual needs very satisfactorily.


There is also this fascinating mining landscape (see top picture above) with mine workings all over the place. Perranporth beach is in the far distance (to the left). In the lower of the two pictures one can just make out some giant wind turbines on the horizon. Wind turbine farms are starting TO dominate our local landscape; we are not sure if they are for good or bad.


And a very pretty comma, there are two generations each year, and this butterfly will probably over winter looking like a dead leaf hanging on a twig. The second generation is darker. Usually they look a lot more tatty than this rather smart specimen.

callington

Callington (said Kal-ington rather than Call-ington which would sound incredibly posh) on a fine sunny morning looking south west towards the rest of Cornwall. All the key features can be seen, church, chapel, cricket green and cemetery

we must blog on

the French have stopped sending us their great thunderous clouds of rain, so at last life can emerge from the swamp once more. This little insect was a complete mystery but, Spot thinks, this is a female glow worm or larva, not that he has ever seen one before. They sometimes climb up on grasses to flash themselves about more widely (soi disant, to maintain the French theme today). Our source of information (The Illustrated Book of Insects, 1979) informs us that they eat snails, by injecting them and then drinking the dissolved fluids (sounds tres gastronomique). Given the weather we clearly need a lot more of them. Are we the only ones who find it very difficult to identify certain things like insects on the internet but very easy then to use the internet to verify something once we have half an idea what it is (for example see this link)? Is there a way round this? Googlmology?

editor's note:- Lisa has pointed out that this is a ladybird larva, (see link) so this was a mis-Spot. Would we have ever have found out without the internet? It illustrates the axiom popular with most doctors, common things are common, and hen's teeth don't grow on trees.

flood doggling

maybe Spot and co knew something we didn't because the rain was torrential this afternoon. The scene at Beals Mill was one of devastation. No one can remember floods like this before. And then the sun came out.

Portwrinkle

the beach at Portwrinkle. The local flora is as quirky as the flora on the North Cornwall coast.

on St German's quay

the viaduct over the river Tiddy, and the quay at St Germans near Polbathic where we went to see some paintings. Notice sunny weather, but storm clouds over home where we returned later to find 4 quivering poodles in fear of the thunder and lightning.

my name is not oscar

Tara from Days missed on a hammock has given our blog the “Arte y Pico” award. Thank you Tara. Tara, although a New Yorker, lives on a long island and is therefore more Cornish than most and a fan of Spot's digressions and indiscretions. When you stop to think about it the net is drawing us all together in a way that none of us could have possibly imagined even ten years ago. Sharing our rich, if rural, life with anyone who cares to pop in for a look gives us the greatest possible satisfaction. Thank you for taking the time to look.

Awards rules:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4) The award winner and one who has given the price have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

downtown Rezare

quiet enough to play football in the street

sacred wells

the site of an ancient sacred spring in Rezare. This site and others are described at the Megalith information site (link). I can find very little information on Rezare (which might be because it appears to have been called Besair on the 1765 map see link)

Dunterton Church

unmistakeably from the same job lot as Stoke Climsland church but on the other side of the river (see previous page for view from the other side of the river.