Very very rarely do you stumble across an event so life-affirming it makes you take stock and want to re-arrange your priorities. Last night was one of those however. A simple gathering in a blacksmith's forge. Mulled wine, chestnuts roasted on the hearth and carols, sung with a compelling sincerity. The smith, a talented man whose hands forge weather vanes, gates, hooks, latches and all the impedimenta surrounding local rural life. His wife, a happy contended hard working woman, organising, bustling and contriving to make their lives rich in experiences of simple artistry. The darkness of the forge, the heat from the fire playing on our faces, and the warming glow of the spiced wine conspired to successfully charge us with a hankering for simplicity, making and growing things, and being extraordinarily thankful and content with our lot. A very Merry Christmas.
9 comments:
How wonderful and what an amazing building - how could you not be happy in a house like that?
There is so much pleasure and contentment to be had from such relatively simple things, Merry Christmas indeed.
Thanks chaps, greetings to you too...hope you have a peaceful and rewarding time 'en famile'
Good to hear of traditional crafts continuing in this way - and of the heart-warming time you had. Here's to more simplicity in the coming year. Have a good one.
Thanks Philip...I wonder if you, like me, were a fan of John Seymour?
Jon: Only just seen your reply to my comment. Yes, I've been a fan of John Seymour in my time, and I worked for Dorling Kindersley when he'd just done his book of self-sufficiency with us (it was published by someone else, but DK put the book together) and when he was doing his books of 'Forgotten' arts and crafts, copies of which I still have somewhere. He was quite a character and my boss at DK used to tell stories of bibulous evenings with Seymour on his farm, which wasn't always quite as well ordered as his books suggested...
I visited him in Co.Wexford in the 80's and thoroughly endorse your comment re. order in the garden (farm in previous years). A fabulously interesting man with a huge sense of humour...oh, the stories!
I'm a big fan of Seymour and often refer to his books. I can completely sympathise with a situation which many parents refer to as "Do as I say, not as I do!". How true, how true......
Happy New Year old chap.
I'm a great fan of Seymour's book Sailing through England in which he takes a Dutch steel-bottomed boat, wife Sally and newborn baby up the estuaries and rivers of the eastern seaboard of post-war England. Rare, but worth seeking out.
And a Happy New Year Jon.
Post a Comment