Winter Gems

   Well the frost covered mornings seen to have given way to a wet damp spell, but as ever the mytical flat lands of the east still seem to produce yet more naturally stunning sights for this bead maker's sore eyes.
   The extra miles I'm putting in on the morning cycles mean I get to explore even more of the fens, yes I've travelled around most of  this area in the last 14 years, but always by car, not by bike and don't get me wrong I enjoy driving and we have visited some great places, but being on a bike you see far more. Every road and drove that I travel holds new gifts, I see so much more detail than I do through a car window, the dyke banks, the rivers, those tiny drove roads that always seem to be littered with wildlife, and those wonderful great birds of pray that hunt the wild headlands and riverbanks alike.

    Even now in mid winter, I still seem to come across some amazing gems of the countryside, from the flocks of Fieldfare to the beautiful Barn Owls that sit on rural gate posts like little princes dressed in warm ermine, just shows that minter really can be a magical season.

A Mixed Week

   This last week has been one of mixed results as far as beads are concerned, I've been playing with new focal ideas but as yet the effects I'm looking for have not materialized. I think you all know me well enough by now to realize that they won't be listed for sale or indeed even shown here on the blog until I manage to get them right, fingers crossed they will be up and running soon.
   On a brighter note, I'm working on a batch of different spacer beads that will I'm sure be appearing very soon in the Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams  The range will consist of larger sets (20 beads), but will all be one-off sets, meaning it will be first come first served. Over the last few months I had a number of requests from customers regarding the larger spacer sets I sold in the past and if I would be listing any again, so I hope these coming sets will again become popular to those who use spacer size beads more regularly than the larger beads. I do know a lot of customers use spacers when making bracelets and leather jewellery as they sit better against the skin, so hopefully they will find some that interest them and please don't forget, I'm always happy to see any photographs of your work, I love to see how my beads are used, even simple spacers.

   On the cycling side of things, it's been a good week, I've improved the amount of miles I'm putting in and the weather has been a great mixture, from dark and damp to beautiful clear frosty mornings. I can never understand how anybody could label the fens as boring and flat, when even in winter those stunning wide skies and open countryside can change in so many ways, I now understand why those Victorian artists were so keen on this magical part of the country.

  

The School Room

   As most of you will know each morning I cycle around the fens,  my route differs but on many occasions I pass through the small village of Lakes End when setting off on my travels. It's just a small parish set on the main road leading from Upwell to Welney, it's here that I always pass the old empty Primitive Methodist Chapel, a lovely brick built chapel with stone windowsills and arches, joined onto the chapel is a small school room which never fails to get my thinking.

    The school was built in 1914, the year the great war broke out and I just cannot help thinking how many of the young children who sat in that tiny school room at Sunday school were later told that their dad's or big brothers were never coming home.  What must those small children had thought, did they understand what was happening in France and Flanders while they sat learning from the bible,  did some go home that holy morning only to learn they had lost their dad, gives me shivers every time I ride past.