This was supposed to be my last blog before restrictions were lifted to enable more freedom of socialising, but alas we have another four weeks of waiting, so I will dig deeper for scarves and keep going until I can remove my Union Jack from the flower pot on my front doorstep. I must say it begins to look a little battle weary! I have also abandoned for the moment my idea of celebrating Freedom Day with the Summer Solstice by dancing around Stonehenge.
I wanted to find a fairly important scarf for Blog No.50 (or indeed No.150 as it is from the beginning of my writing) I had decided to dedicate the blog today to my granddaughter Ella who has helped me on this journey. MISS ROSE it is. Yes, it is the name on my luscious rose pink silk scarf and is American. I know little about the designer or her company, and there are no roses on the scarf. Good quality silk, hand stitched hems, lovely colour scheme, predominantly deep shocking pink, two lighter shades of rose pinks, two soft lilacs and two gentle greys. The design is of stylised peonies. I was hoping my own plant would be in pale blush bloom, but not so. I think the grapevine, jasmine and honeysuckle have swamped it. I will be wearing some stunning silver earrings set with big chunks of polished pink agate and small amethysts, which pick up the colours of my scarf. In future I will now travel with just one basic outfit, a couple of tshirts, lots of scarves and matching earrings in a small bag…..that’s when Covid 19 allows me more freedom and I buy my Senior Rail Pass for discounted fares.
Yet this week’s blog is not about me, but the young person who like so many others has been robbed of the full University experience and now face life’s new challenges. Ella got her final marks this week for the last assignment of her Graphic Art course at Manchester and is now anxiously awaiting her Degree result……and a job. I will take you back a few years to her last school year at Dauntsey’s and the teacher who gave her encouragement to follow a career in Art. Her name is MISS ROSE. I quote from Ella’s school report…..
“Her art exam incorporated a nature-based project and this was another example of her bravery and willingness to try new things. Despite being faced with an empty trampoline frame at the start of the exam that required her to work at height, Ella has produced a beautiful piece of work - it reflects all her amazing qualities and presence of mind to produce such a piece in only two days. Her examination project didn’t just explore the natural world, but created a new environment in mixed-media. Those who have taught Ella know her to be absolutely fearless; both her GCSE and A-levels in Art culminated in massive works that dominate the space. Ella herself is modest and quietly spoken, but her art-work shouts!”
But what do you do with an enormous, decorated, shouting trampoline at the end of an art show? Nobody’s home was big enough to accommodate it, so smaller elements of it now adorn the dining room wall of her parents’ home and there is the front cover of the show catalogue showing her exhibit in her souvenir box. (I still have my A level Art piece of work, which I doubt Ella has ever seen. I had to create a design and execute in different embroidery stitches a tea cosy cover.) A little bit tame compared to a trampoline but easier to keep for seventy years. It’s a teabag in a mug these days so my teapot with cosy cover and fine China cups are not used so much…..and when I was seventeen I had never heard of a trampoline! Quite a coincidence that we should both choose a design based on nature.
So, thank you Miss Rose for encouraging my granddaughter and thank you Ella in turn for supporting me to write my life story, past and present, in an unorthodox form through my scarves.
So, will next week be No.51, or do I start Series 3 with another No.1? I already have an idea and it has surprised even me!
Busy Bee, Scarf Face!
Series 2, Blog 50.