ABSTRACT OR DERELICTION - THAT IS THE QUESTION!

We were supposed to be going out to visit a friend this morning, but unfortunately, she was ill yesterday, so having spoken to her on the phone, we decided that perhaps it might be as well for us to call off the visit, which then left us with a morning - or even a whole day to do something else.

Some other friends had told us about the Lavender Bakehouse and Coffee Shop in Chalford, near Stroud, so we decided to go over there and check it out, and we were glad we did.  Mr. HCB had a second breakfast of eggs and bacon on toast - and what a huge portion that was!  At least three large rashers of bacon and there must have been three eggs in his “strangled” eggs - our boys’ name from long ago for scrambled eggs!  He ploughed through manfully though and finished the lot!  I just had sourdough toast with butter and marmalade and a lovely latté and we just enjoyed the ambience of the place.

We left there and drove into Stoud, but then did a large loop back to Sapperton and then on to Somerford Keynes, using the back roads instead of going on the busy main roads.  After a while we came across the Elemental Sculpture Park, just outside Somerford Keynes.  We spoke to the young man at the ticket booth, which was made from the back of an old American school bus, who asked if we were going round the sculptures or just visiting the tea-room and gallery.  I asked if the paths were all stony and gravelly, as they were just outside the tea-room and he confirmed they were, so we politely said that it wouldn’t be that good for me with my creaky knees - he said the paths were quite uneven in places and he quite understood.  

We then consoled ourselves with an ice-cream and sat in the sunshine, following which we went and spoke to the young man and thanked him for his understanding - I must admit I was relieved because I have a dread of twisting my knee or ankle on uneven ground and ending up back at A & E, especially in these difficult times.

From the few sculptures we could see from where we were sitting, the park is a mixture of bronze, stone and marble sculptures and pieces made of scrap metal and at the main entrance to the tea-rooms was this wonderful tree sculpture by David Hartland.  

The body of the tree is made up of 26 engine blocks and uses exhaust pipes as branches with the Morris Minor perched precariously on top - the whole structure took eight weeks to complete.  I did ask the young man at the ticket booth if it was his car on the top and whether it had got there by accident after he had had a “night out on the town”.  He just laughed and said that it could be!

So this could be my offering for either Abstract Thursday or Derelict Sunday - I will tag it for both and you can choose!

“Where the material ends,
     art begins.”
Etienne Hajdu

P.S.  Speaking of Abstracts, I will be closing my 100 Abstracts Challenge Sponsor page very soon, so if you haven’t yet sponsored me and would like to, to make a difference in the lives of impoverished girls in North Malawi, and to enable them, with the help of there Mamie Martin Fund, to obtain a good secondary school education, just click on the link below.  The total at the moment stands at a whopping £1,200, and I am SO grateful to all who have donated.  Bless you all.  M xx 

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles