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Linda A | all galleries >> Galleries >> Dance me through the panic, 'til I'm safely gathered in - 2007 diary > 27th January 2007 - pleasure and pain from old wood
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27-JAN-2007

27th January 2007 - pleasure and pain from old wood

When I arrived home late last night from London, I had a fabulous surprise – my Art Nouveau Overmantle that I’d bought on Ebay had finally arrived. It’s taken a bit longer than I’d have hoped, but because it took so long, I was able to prepare the fire surround for its arrival so all we have to do now is fit it, the rest of the work is done.

The piece was a complete bargain – I paid less for it than I’d have paid for a plain, flat mirror of half its size in Trago or Homebase or indeed anywhere else. What I got was solid oak, turned pillars, carved panels and a huge bevelled edged mirror. It really is splendid, if very dirty and looking a bit neglected. Tomorrow, out will come the soft cloths, the wax and the glass cleaner and it’ll start to glint and sparkle again.

This carved panel is across the bottom edge and it is photographed on its side – I liked the ‘rocket ship’ shape if you know what I mean.

Once it’s been cleaned and waxed, DM has been charged with fixing it to the wall and to the mantelshelf. Then the clock goes onto its shelf and the whole thing is ‘done’.

I needed this shot of some beautiful wood for my pic today because actually, all of the wood I have dealt with today has caused me great pain – except this, that is. This morning, I shifted 30 scaffolding planks (OK – I know that scaffolders shift twice that many every day but I am a woman, I do a sedentary job and I am in my late 40s. It was HARD work. Very hard work. They had to be lifted, carried uphill, tipped over a dry stone wall then carried to their temporary home, probably 50 yards from their start-point on the lawn, where my pals at Jewson had left them on Thursday. I moved ten of them unaided, then the remaining twenty were taken from the dry stone wall to their new home by DM. I can tell you, my back, shoulders and arms all know I did that job today!

Then, our next encounter with wood was that bloody shed again – you know, the one that was so rotten that it was unusable but so strong that it took the best part of a day to get it down and the pieces moved so we could erect the new one?

Well, we stacked up the panels in my veggie garden so they had to go! Our neighbour has got a skip at the moment and had very kindly allowed us some space in it so we agreed that the big panels could be used to start controlling weeds in our field (for a forthcoming major project) and the little bits of rotten stuff could go in the skip.

That plan seemed like a great idea – never mind that a panel fell onto my leg (ouch) another one had a big rusty nail sticking out of it and into one of my most important soft fleshy bits – at least in DMs view - (if you get my drift) while we carried it out through the gate and into the field, the rest were heavy, unwieldy and eventually, when the last one finally went into place, just before dark, I slipped on a panel and ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor – tomorrow, I am going to be black and blue!

Finally, (and this really does take the cake) I pulled at some plastic that was half buried under the last bit of timber and found that there was a whole load of photo albums and holiday brochures buried under a thin layer of soil. I don’t very often get really angry but at this point, I was spitting fury and all set to go down to Mad Maureen’s new place and dump the lot on her front lawn. DM was, for once, the sensible one and he persuaded me that it wouldn’t help – talk about a role reversal – it’s normally me trying to stop him from doing the same.

So, the pic shows some wood I’ve got pleasure from today and the narrative tells the story of pain – both physical and emotional!!!

Last year, on this day, I was in the same place I was in yesterday and doing much the same sort of thing!

Canon EOS 10D
1/125s f/13.0 at 50.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Michael Todd Thorpe30-Jan-2007 23:55
That does look like a gorgeous find. That oak looks to be quarter sawn and in beautiful condition. You never would have found something like this in the stores...
Nicki Thurgar28-Jan-2007 17:02
Hope your bruises won't be too bad tomorrow; you work so hard!
Eric Hewis28-Jan-2007 09:47
I'll be round with the Germolene ASAP!
Rene Hales28-Jan-2007 01:53
Lovely overmantle. Can't wait to see a shot of it in place. Sorry for your pain and hardwork.--Rene