Ron Folland's Tower Bridge

The very first painting Anne and I bought was the painting featured here by Ronald Norman Folland, an artist from London, England. Folland lived from 1932 to 1999 and became well-known for his paintings of urban scenes in London and Paris. Many became prints.

This particular painting is an early Folland, we purchased, we believe, from the artist himself as he exhibited his paintings on the railings of Green Park in the early 1960s. We bought it from there before we emmigrated to Canada in 1966 and have loved it ever since.

Now is the time to begin to downsize. Our research shows that major auction houses such as Bonhams have featured Folland's paintings recently. We believe the emotionally charged painting of Tower Bridge shows the gritty character of London on a miserable winter's day. The tones of black, grey and white bring out that gritty nature of such a day.

This painting is avilable for purchase from my Etsy shop.

The low down on Fanny baskets

Recently, during Etsy chat group sessions, I have been asked what the term "Fanny" means in relation to my Fanny baskets. British chatters find the term somewaht vulgar, while North American chatters seem to comprehend it. The photo here shows one of my Fanny baskets, illustrating the "cheeks" that make up its fanny shape.



The illustration here shows a "Very full-fannied Egg (basket) with four point lashing (god's eye). That is the style of basket I call a fanny basket. This illustration is from "The Basket Book" by Lyn Siler, Sterling Publishing, New York, 1988.

My 1994 Oxford Paperback Dictionary lends some clarity to the source of the cross-Atlantic confusion over the term, "Fanny".

"Fanny", noun, 1. (Amer. slang) The buttocks

2. (Vulgar) The female genitals.

I hope this low down on the differences in meaning to the term "fanny" will assauge any discomfort over my descriptive usage of this term.

The joys of snail mail

My wife, Anne, recently completed transcribing to the computer letters she wrote to her mother in the 60s, 70s and 80s. These letters told of our early days in Canada, and of our slowly coming to grips with autism and Adrian. When we first emmigrated, it was far too costly to phone England, except in an emergancy situation. Letter-writing, using the aerogram flimsies, was the best medium to keep in touch. And those letters now provide a great record of what we did in those days, and what Anne felt about the situation (at least, in a self-edited form for her mother's pleasure.)

Today, we think nothing of sending an email to relatives in England. But those missives are so ephemeral. It is unlikely such mesages will be the valuable archival material seen in those letters sent home to Mum.

For several years now we have sent an annual Christmas Newsletter by email to all kinds of friends and relatives, with hard copies to those without email addresses. Anne has conscientiously added those Newsletters to the archival records of the computer as well as keeping hard copies. Recent experiences with searches for copies of old photographs on the computer show that such archival efforts may be in vain. As we updated from one computer to another, records have been lost. The written word still has its value.

The book that started it all.

(This is the first in a intermittant series of articles on basket-making books.)

There is a story I have told many times of how I began my basket-making journey. It begins over a half-century ago in arts and crafts classes in an elementary school in the little English village of Cheddleton (near Leek, Staffordshire). There, at the age of nine or ten, the class was introduced to basket-making. My twin brother, Frank, and I, as competative as ever tried to outdo each other in making the biggest and best basket. Soon the school's supply of basket-making materials was threatened with exhaustion. My elder sister, Mary, was the recipient of a large sewing basket (which she has no recollection of receiving!)

Many years later, I recalled this episode of basket-making in conversation with my wife, Anne, as we talked about what we could do after I retired. "Perhaps I should do more than golf and garden?" That Christmas the book shown here appeared as a Christmas gift under the tree. That is the book that rekindled my interest in basket-making and put me on the present path of being a basket-maker.

The book, Basket Making, by Olivia Elton Barratt, was published in 1990 by Charles Letts and Co. Ltd , London, England. It is a broad introduction to a variety of basket-making styles: cane basket making, willow basket making, straw boater making etc. It is filled with examples of the basket maker's craft and is a good book for inspiration.

Mini Coin Collection

Yesterday all three of my vintage coin selections in my etsy shop were sold! Even the commemorative dollar coins such as those issued in Red Lake for Gold Rush Days around 1980. Go figure.

I then checked to see if we have any other vintage coins. These were all I could find that might bring a buyer. This mini collection includes a packaged set of Britain's First Decimal Coins, a Crown (five shilling piece) to celebrate Queen Elizabeth and the Duke's Silver Wedding, with its plastic case, and an 1897 Victorian silver three-penny p1ece.

We do have some sets of quarters and dollar coins from Canada for 1992, 2000 and 2001. But I have to wait for a while before I can class them as Vintage Coins (25 years old or older.)

Anne has searched and found several vintage crochet hooks I will probably post tomorrow. She will not let me at other vintage items such as paintings that we have.