It was this part of the trip that I knew I needed to have my wits about me, but as the week had progressed so the bug had been undeterred in terms of making sure it stayed with me, and so there are things that as I mentioned in the previous entry, I am hoping will be clarified for me via the photos, and if that fails, Mum will have to help me "connect the dots" so that I do represent things accurately. (and she is having an afternoon snooze having managed to get a cough as well - so we are a right pair - although I am getting there, which is a huge relief!)
So, we set off and Pat drove past a farm where there was a field of Shetlands. I was fascinated by these tiny ponies with their rotund bellies grazing under overcast skies and "all at peace with the world".
Then we made our way to a place called "Burrow Mump", which is one of the places on the way towards Ilminster.
Burrow Mump has rich historical background - as with so many of the other aspects of the UK! From what I have been able to glean, there is evidence that this has traces of Roman activity - but then I guess much of the UK would have that!
I think the thing that made it something different is that it is higher than much of the rest of the countryside as it is atop a hill in the midst of the "Somerset Levels" - which are also interesting, as there are tales and stories about these as well - but the general crux is that the "Levels and Moors" (as I see Wikipedia states they ought to be correctly referred to! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels ) date back to a time when the sea probably came in as far as this part of the country, I gather at certain times of the year, as there is a reference to the fact that "Somerset" probably gained its name from the fact that it was a place of the Summer people - but then, I guess no one wants to be stuck in a peat bog in winter! The levels are also the perfect place for the willow trees to grow. The willow that is used in the willow weaving I have spoken of - and just to clear something up, these are trees that are not "Weeping Willows". They are far more upright bushels of reeds almost.
None the less, we continued our journey along the winding country roads of Somerset to Ilminster, where I would be spending the next couple of days. John and Mum seem to have latched onto the "investigation" aspect of the family tree and family history for my maternal grandmother's lineage, and with John being so close to Taunton, and so where his father and my grandmother grew up, he has had a chance to do a good deal of ferreting about in order to try and fill in some of the missing pieces of the jigsaw, as well as finding out some information behind the names and dates - hence the need to have my wits about me - and even looking at the pics now, I can see that I will make mistakes! Oh well!
We met up at John and Shirley's home where I was shown to my bedroom and we then walked into Ilminster itself in order to go and have lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that John and Shirley had come to quite enjoy, but commented at the end of the meal that they were a little saddened that it appeared that the restaurant was becoming a little too commercialised and thus losing some of its charm. I guess that is the problem with so many things. The knowledge of knowing when to stop is always an important thing in all aspects of life - and I have been reading about it quite a bit in a number of my painting newsletters and information that I have received over the last couple of weeks. But, it does apply to all things in life I guess!
Following lunch we walked to a little way down the road to a hall where they had a Christmas market of sorts housed there, as well as the place that we would be visiting the following evening as John and Shirley had bought tickets to watch an Irish themed band (Diaspora) the following night who were doing their bit to try and ensure that a charity doing quite a bit of work using film (and whose name I cannot for the life of me recall just now) could raise some funds.
Following that, we walked back to John and Shirley's and said our farewells to Pat as she tootled off back home. Not feeling my brightest, Shirley offered, and I graciously accepted this offer, to have a snooze in the afternoon. I awoke feeling far more refreshed, and enjoyed a lovely evening chatting to John as Shirley was attending a function that the church had organised as a result of their pastor being about to leave, and this was a farewell from him to many of the people in the parish who worked closely with the children.
Shirley was not home all that late, and if I recall correctly, about the time she got in, I had headed up to bed and was turning in for the day.
I started working on 2 December, but there are too many "gaps" in my memory and knowledge, and so, Mum and I are going to have to achieve something of a minor miracle - but also part of my practising for what is to be my intention for 2012 - and make the time to sit and go through all the pics that I have and annotate properly.
So, for the time being, you will have to await the "history lesson" kind folks. And so, as I close for this evening and continue on my marathon of finishing off my cross stitch, that is slowly gaining even more definition and texture as a result of the backstitching and such like, I wish you all well.
All my love!
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