Of genes and pools

I am reassured by the youthfulness and spirit of adventure (resilience?) present in the gene pool to which I belong.

Last week I was talking to my Aunt who informed me that she goes out walking with her various positive-minded friends six days every week.  Furthermore, in order to keep in shape, she skips every night as she has done for years and eschews drugs of any form, preferring to let her body deal with illnesses on its own.  She is 79 years old.

My father has a most amazing garden which is gracefully banked down into the valley behind their house and stocked with all manner of exotic plant species.  Towards the bottom there is a pond where my older siblings famously experimented to see if their baby brother would float.  Thanks guys.  It sits on the edge of a small lawn and has a bank, rich with flora, rising steeply behind it.

Amongst other things, the job of garden steward involves tending both the pond and the bank behind and my father accomplishes this, from time to time, by laying a plank over the water and walking across.  Now, it is fair to say that he no longer has the reflexes of a cat, but he refuses to let this prevent him from doing what he loves.

So picture this, if you will.  He was slinging a net across the pond to catch the autumn leaves.  He had one foot on the plank and one foot against the far bank and he was holding onto a small shrub for support… when he caught his foot in the net. 

The shrub decided to jettison its branch under the the pressure exerted and my father looped backwards into thin air, presumably still holding the newly detached bough aloft next to a speech bubble exclaiming ‘crikey!’ 

In my imagination he whooped with laughter and performed a perfect back flip and two round hitches before diving into the pond… indeed, most of that must be true as he did indeed land backwards with a splash! 

I’m guessing that as an accomplished gardener and having wet the, er… cutting?… in his hand, he then planted it somewhere before going off in search of dry clothes.  And sympathy, aka a cup of tea, as I’m sure my mother would have just howled with laughter!

Safe to report that, at 82, he is still resilient enough to have been back out completing the job once dry clothes and tea had been administered.  Which is my point entirely… I really have chosen a great gene pool!

Of Sunday on Monday

In case you’re going to pull me up for having a lazy weekend, I DID go for a run yesterday!  Admittedly only 7 miles (1 hour 8 mins or so), but a run nevertheless.  Down to the Royal Oak, across to Hundred Acre Lane, round to Wellhouse Lane, over to the railway and back via the station & Darens flat.  The latter seems to have a tree growing out of the chimney… is that anything to do with you Debbs… smoking weed maybe?

I had this vague thought that I was running for both Daren, whose paying customers might not appreciate his dulcet steps running round the poop-deck above their sunday-morning-lay-in and Nick, who is out of action at the moment on account of having allegedly eaten a castle of cake on his own.  Thus, with three-up, I felt justified in finding it hard work! 

The local farmer didn’t help much by suggesting I must be mad (keen observation actually!) before leisurely driving off in his air conditioned John Deere!

Other artists of note

I’d hate to whet your appetite for art without mentioning the following:

Darren Coffield – again, if you’re not familiar with his work, you should browse his site.  If you see art as a good long-term investment, place your bets here! (please note that I’m not an investment advisor licenced by the Politburo and that the value of investments can go down as well as being enjoyed for arts sake!)

Diarmuid Byron O’Connor – Diarmuid was commissioned to sculpt Peter Pan for Great Ormond Street Hospital and his sculptures and drawings are so full of movement

Chris MacDonald – sculptor extraordinaire, using flotsam & jetsam to create humorous almost-functional pieces

I’ve a few others to add, but right now their websites are proving to be elusive… silly people!

A gallery life for me!

I had the great fortune to work in an art gallery many years ago and from these three blissful years, I developed a real love of’ and appreciation for art.  So it was a real treat this weekend to be taken to, not one but, two galleries!

The first gallery that we visited was the Modern Artists Gallery, which is in the delightful village of Whitchurch on Thames near Pangbourne in Berkshire.  Here there are a wide selection of contemporary artists working in a good mix of mediums, including: some totally amazing, deep coloured, surreal sky-scapes by Kathryn Thomas; some energetic city scenes by Anita Austwick; some gorgeously cheeky bronze sculptures by Mark Hall (if you’re not familiar with his work, it’s definitely worth looking up!); some surreal contemplative paintings by Lucy Orchard that gave me a real sense of unease!  There is plenty to look at and you even get to cross a lovely toll bridge on the way there, where Ken Livingstone has obviously not got his hands on the income from the 20p each way charge!

The second gallery that we discovered was a real find, but if you’re reading this after the 8th September, you’re too late!  Take 5 Artists is the third year that these local artists have mounted an exhibition at the top of the town in the Henley Exhibition Centre.  We chanced in on Matthew Burley hanging his amazing paintings  in the evening and he very kindly let us browse round their work.  Matthew is charming and his canvases of water foaming behind a boat and water sparkling in a weir were achingly realistic.  He also paints totally lifelike portraits and there is one there with a fantastic headdress in a riot of colour.  For those of you in New York, keep an eye out for him… he’ll be working in your fair city from the end of this month.  The photographer, Steve Bumphrey, also had dynamic colours, but it was his moody nudes that really caught our eye… stunning!

Irrespective of whether you catch the exhibition, I can really recommend a Saturday afternoon and evening in Henley… it is a beautifully graceful town with loads of proper shops and a good choice of restaurants… it’s best to book a table though, as I think that we were very lucky!