Moon Wobbles

Maybe I should have been thinking about the Mercury Retrograde post-shadow phase  as I filled up my car this morning in preparation for my trip to Wiltshire.  Not to mention the intensity of all the Cardinal energies in the air.  Plus the moon wobble.  Yes, full moon wobbling in Wiltshire where they are expert in all things lunar.   

Instead I was wondering what colour exactly my nice new top is.  Then, after an altercation with pump number 7, I realised it was petrol blue.  

Over at Semington, Dru was on the phone.  While I waited for her to finish, I sat in a field and wondered what shade exactly you call green wheat turning gold.  

  

Then it was off to Pewsey so Dru could drop some of her art off in the gallery there.  On the way we passed the Alton Barnes white horse.  

I've a mind to tick off all the Wiltshire White Horses over the next few years, but it doesn't feel like today's sighting counted somehow.  Driving past at a distance won't do.  It has to be done on foot and up close.  

In the Pewsey Heritage Centre, Dru got all misty-eyed over engines, lawn mowers, surveying chains, etc.  This did it for me. 

Then it was back to Trowbridge Museum to meet up with potter, artist and needle-felter Jan Lane for a visit to her exhibition, Mockingbird.  Except that when we got there, it was closed.  Damn you, Mercury Retrograde post-shadow phase and moon wobble!  

A phone call later, Jan had ascertained that it was only closed because a volunteer had omitted to turn up and we gained entry anyway.  

Not for nothing is Trowbridge dubbed 'the Manchester of the South' - well, it is in Trowbridge, anyhow - and the museum is housed in one of the town's former mills.   


Jan's exhibition is in part inspired by the textiles in the museum's collection. 

Her trademark quirky birds are very much in evidence, and soon to be joined by the two who nest in my house, Leonardo the magpie and Murdo McLeod, who is a crow.  

Other inspirations are fossils from the collection of Rev George Crabbe, poet, surgeon and clergyman, who spent the last two decades of his life in Trowbridge.  

Look closer at this owl's head - it's patterned with ammonites.  

Mockingbird is on until 27th September so there's still plenty of time to get along there if you can.  

More of Jan Lane's work - including her wonderful felted creations - can been seen here and the blog of the exhibition here.