Iron Men

ART
I came across Geoff Cox when I visited Rheged awhile ago and was greeted by his Iron Men. It was the first sculpture that prompted me to take a photo (naughty naughty) as I didn't think I would see them again. But on a recent visit to the Upfront Gallery, which is a puppet Theatre, Gallery and Café in one I discovered him there too. Where I also read that this weekends Pot Fest at Hutton In the Forest was created by him and his lady Christine. There is over 100 potters from around Europe and beyond whom attend and there are some amazing works of decorative and useable pottery. So if you are in the area then pop along, don't disappear though because a week later it's Pot Fest in the Pens which also celebrates the potter. There are a couple of the long distant travelling potters who will stay on for the week and attend this too, but all the rest (130 potters attend in total) you won't have seen at Pot Fest.

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Anyway back to the main man Geoff Cox.
“I like to take a very simple idea and play with it over time to see where it takes me. It sometimes leads to quite interesting places”. On a visit to India he watched a few Tamil Nadu potters working together to make a Terracotta Elephant. These types of works are often used in places of worship or under the Mango or Pipal trees in the vicinty of temples. Tamil nadu is famous for the Terricotta figures of Aiyanar Deity which are standing guards at the entrances of villages protecting the insiders from evil spirits. Its not surprising from the picture attached (thanks to Wikipedia) that this is part of his inspiration. Every decade proves a new inspiration and wealth of ideas for Geoff, but I love the Aztec era of 1990 – 2000's

Although I imagine having his warrior series from 1980's – 1990's in the garden would also ward off evil furry feet that frequent the garden to scare/eat the birds. Take a look on his website and tell me which period takes your fancy. Here's Pot Fest Facebook page too

BEER
Leffe Blonde 6.6%
Yes I know you have already tried this when you was in your twenties. Well I haven't! You see this is the beauty of this blog, 'a newbie is trying it, so lets see what Halfpint makes of it'.
It's a lovely old copper still colour and there's a lovely creamy head (no flake in it though). Not sure how long the head lasts for as I slurped the lot like I had a cone of Mr Whippy Ice Cream. If someone shovelled this in my hand and said to try this beer I would guess it was a Belgium beer (I'm getting good at this now – I think). The spice is quite prominent on the first taste and throughout. A honey (bananary) malty, spicy flavour is always hitting my taste buds and I can't find anything else (don't think there's any more?). I quite like this one. It is one of those readily available Belgium beers, which sometimes can get over looked by the beer peeps who like to try less readily available tipples. But the upside it can be cheaper if that's the type of beer you are into. I bought a four bottle pack size for less than £5 at a known supermarket a year ago. Yes the bottle I had has been in the cupboard/fridge for that long, I forgot I had one left. Ooopsy! It didn't last long in the glass I can assure you of that.

It's great as an after dinner beer, but, I can imagine it going down well with a big juicy BBQ burger with some soft white Camembert cheese drizzled over it. Yes I've gotten posh whilst drinking this, but, Dairylea flat sliced cheese just won't do.  Check out their website for more beers and to plan a trip to the Maison Leffe.
Go on try it again if it's been awhile.

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Sugar Snap Peas doing well after I nearly killed them, very small though

GARDEN
The garden is coming on a treat now. Last year My Man built his shed from scratch (I was impressed) and we daftly put it up at 6 O'clock on a winters evening when the light was fading fast. It replaced an old shed that had seen better days. It was not until April time that we realised the shed was sloping at the back in one corner. On closer inspection we found that our garden in that corner was slowly depositing it's self into the neighbours garden behind us. There is a step down into there garden or supposedly. Our neighbour on the left luckily has a five foot brick wall propping up our garden. If this wasn't there it would be one heck of a slope from his to our garden. We wondered why it was slopping and found that the builders in order to prop our garden up had placed a sleeper on its side between ours and next door. But wait for it.. The soil underneath was clay, but on top of that to help keep the soil in they had placed a plastic sheet along that part of the garden. Over the months of rain and an heavier shed sitting on top the sleeper had dislodged and the soil disappeared. So this job has been an on going process mainly when we can be bothered to sort it properly. The end is in site. Soon we will have fixed that and created a veg patch next to the shed.

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MUSINGS
I've been too busy this week to sit and think about things milling on in my head. It's all still spinning with new brews at work (Eden Brewery), the garden, art work to get on with and finish, along with the ever tiresome house chores. Although I did manage to go to the theatre this week, which when I get my head together I will tell you about next week. As ever thanks for reading my blog. A big thanks to those that come back week after week too. Hope you enjoyed it this week. Have you discovered a beer, artist or even a plant you like and would like to share with me. Leave a message below. Have a great week.

 Tunes of the week
My man picked this weeks tunes - angry they are lol
Disturbed - Indestructible
Apocalyptica - 'Path Vol. II' lots of lovely string music. Well this is a new one for me, it's a bit different. Check out their Hall of the Mountain King

And then something a little gentler - main stream Dub Step apparently. Next week he'll be telling me what Garage is (i still have no idea)! Or the difference between Garage and the Car Port.
Skream & Example - Shot Yourself In The Foot Again
And the last one is a lot gentler on the ears Katherine Jenkins - Bring me to life no honest it's good give it a listen. This is the original by Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Sweet dreams lol

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