Abstract Landscape Painter. Rural Dweller. Lover of Modernist Art and Design.
18 January
I’ve been laid low by a virus for the last couple of days, so today, I am very pleased to get out for a short walk, some fresh air, and to see the sky again. Being outdoors makes me feel so much better. We are surprised to see so few branches down after last night’s winds of 80+ mph. They must have been weeded out during the last storm.
There are no other buildings for miles in a westerly direction from where we live. This means that our little cottage takes the full brunt of the west wind. Being old, it literally moves with the onslaught - a strange sensation when you are lying in bed! However, the fact that it flexes is probably why it has managed to stand here for so long.
From 3am to 7am, the wind roars over us, dislodging the board that blocks one of the chimneys, and pulling air through the house so strongly that I have to put my shoulder to the old wooden kitchen door in order to latch and bolt it!
A small, Victorian, bedroom fireplace, which we had assumed was decorative, is obviously not, as at 6am it starts clanging loudly. The metal flap that opens directly into the chimney stack, and which I had thought was welded to the surround, is being pulled open and shut. It sounds like someone is banging a spade with a hammer. On inspection I see that it has a metal eyelet on the flap, which enables me to thread nylon picture twine through it and to tie it to the bars of the grate and impede its movement. Useful stuff for all sorts of jobs!
I am so grateful to be feeling well again today and that the storm has left us unscathed. Hopefully, tomorrow, it will be back to business as usual.
All text & images ©2018 Carol Saunderson
http://anartistinthelandscape.blogspot.co.uk/
