Ancient things and god-daughters
At the British Museum on Friday, I managed to find a near-likeness to my stone axe and get a look at a small portion of the Staffordshire Hoard. I had rather been hoping for a nice old-fashioned range of glass cases with hundreds of different, carefully-labeled axes, but of course the whole gallery had been rearranged, and there were only one or two, so it was easy to find one fairly like mine. The jade axe from the 100 Things series was there too, much bigger and prettier than mine. There was a helpful leaflet listing all the 100 Things and where to find them, but I didn't follow it all the way through. Only a few pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard were on show, still coated with dried clay from where they were dug up, and my conservator's heart itched to get at them with a little brush, but I suppose there are all sorts of interesting things to be found in that clay, and they must all rest unwashed and undusted until the money to do them properly is found. Meanwhile I suppose they are all languishing in little cardboard boxes somewhere, with all those stone axes that used to be in glass cases.
My axe - very dark green stone (shale?), and highly polished on the beveled end.
The museum's axe. Exactly the same size and colour as mine, but I can't see if it has the same beveled edge. This one is Neolithic (4000-2500 BC) and from Dorset, which would make mine the very oldest thing in my house by several thousand years if it's the same.
An inlaid sword pommel from the Staffordshire Hoard - very hard to photograph, as I had to put the camera flat onto the glass of the case directly above it.
Filigree gold bits from the Staffordshire Hoard, with clay in all the filigree, plus a window reflection and the shadow of my hand and the camera (how not to photograph).
Yesterday, I overslept and crocheted, and the second g-d came over for dinner,and a discussion of her crochet order. She likes the double spiral, but has taken it off to try on things, so I can't post a picture. I ended up figuring out a way to do it in one piece, and then found a much easier pattern. Her other designs look spectacular, very romantic but not in the least fancy-dress or historical costume, and all in a lovely range of cream, grey and black textures of silk, linen and wool.
Today being the depressing festival of St Valentine, I had intended to do a lot of house-cleaning and sewing, but got a call from the first g-d to say that she had been over for a wedding and their train wasn't due till 4, so did I fancy lunch? We had a very pleasant Chinese lunch near the station and I finally got to hand over their Christmas presents. The mohair throw from Ikea was especially well-received, since their flat is pretty cold. Apparently after the Eurostar debacle at Christmas they got two free return tickets (and the cost of their actual travel expenses at Christmas), so this trip over was free, and since they were held up yesterday as well (but only by an hour or so, and not in the tunnel), she has another free ticket to make up for that. We're now wondering whether, if you had the full survival kit (large bottle of water, torch, thick book, iPod, knitting), it wouldn't be a good idea to get stuck repeatedly, and have free Eurostar travel indefinitely.
ETA - I realise that I've been calling the thing a hand-axe, when of course it would have had a handle;p there are some small marks at the narrow end that might have been for attaching it.
My axe - very dark green stone (shale?), and highly polished on the beveled end.
The museum's axe. Exactly the same size and colour as mine, but I can't see if it has the same beveled edge. This one is Neolithic (4000-2500 BC) and from Dorset, which would make mine the very oldest thing in my house by several thousand years if it's the same.
An inlaid sword pommel from the Staffordshire Hoard - very hard to photograph, as I had to put the camera flat onto the glass of the case directly above it.
Filigree gold bits from the Staffordshire Hoard, with clay in all the filigree, plus a window reflection and the shadow of my hand and the camera (how not to photograph).
Yesterday, I overslept and crocheted, and the second g-d came over for dinner,and a discussion of her crochet order. She likes the double spiral, but has taken it off to try on things, so I can't post a picture. I ended up figuring out a way to do it in one piece, and then found a much easier pattern. Her other designs look spectacular, very romantic but not in the least fancy-dress or historical costume, and all in a lovely range of cream, grey and black textures of silk, linen and wool.
Today being the depressing festival of St Valentine, I had intended to do a lot of house-cleaning and sewing, but got a call from the first g-d to say that she had been over for a wedding and their train wasn't due till 4, so did I fancy lunch? We had a very pleasant Chinese lunch near the station and I finally got to hand over their Christmas presents. The mohair throw from Ikea was especially well-received, since their flat is pretty cold. Apparently after the Eurostar debacle at Christmas they got two free return tickets (and the cost of their actual travel expenses at Christmas), so this trip over was free, and since they were held up yesterday as well (but only by an hour or so, and not in the tunnel), she has another free ticket to make up for that. We're now wondering whether, if you had the full survival kit (large bottle of water, torch, thick book, iPod, knitting), it wouldn't be a good idea to get stuck repeatedly, and have free Eurostar travel indefinitely.
ETA - I realise that I've been calling the thing a hand-axe, when of course it would have had a handle;p there are some small marks at the narrow end that might have been for attaching it.