By Mary Ann Rogers
Where on earth has the summer gone? It certainly hasn’t been an endless succession of long, hot, lazy sunny days here at Leam Cottage!
Making the most of things is what we do well here, so regardless of the weather, I book my evening swims at the nearby open water venue, a beautiful tree lined lake with huge views to the west. I may not be the fastest, but I’m usually the last swimmer out of the water and if there was an Olympic medal for plodding on, I’d be up there with the contenders. The other evenings, fifey and I cycle down to the river for a swim.
July is when we decamp to Harrogate for the only trade show I do. It involves loading up a van with one of everything, plus furniture for the stand, and a caravan hooked on the back to stay in for the 6 days I spend there. It’s a huge amount of work, but putting what I do in front of buyers from shops, galleries, department stores and visitor centres from all round the UK and Ireland really is a special opportunity. As usual, the weather was gorgeous. We had a great stand, everything looked exactly as I planned it, down to the last centimetre, and people loved it! We came home with a very healthy order book, and a dose of E Coli. The River Nidd in Knaresborough was just too tempting. Despite the rather murky waters, I swam twice there, head down crawl, and whilst I certainly didn’t swallow any water, it appears some of it must have entered my body. I discovered (too late) that the river water quality for that stretch of river was the lowest it had been, and subsequently I read that many swimmers there had contracted E coli and become quite ill.
It’s very quiet here at the moment. A rogue fox has been visiting during the daytime, which is quite unusual, and has taken all of our ducks and chickens over a period of a few weeks. The guinea fowl, always extremely alert and very noisy, have, up until now, escaped becoming fox food, until yesterday. Fifey happened to spot Mr Fox trotting up the field with a dead guinea fowl in his mouth. We only have two rather subdued guinea fowl left, and we are at a bit of a loss to know what to do next. I can’t imagine not having a menagerie of fascinating birds, laying fresh eggs and keeping me entertained, but a fox who takes them during the daytime is a real problem.
We are now into the season of landscape painting. The hills become purple with the heather, then the bracken begins to turn golden soon while the skies take on a more interesting character, and I struggle to work fast enough to keep up with the changes.
One of these landscape paintings has caught my imagination and now adorns sketchbooks, journals, potbags and a new rope handled bag which I think will be great for all my damp swimming things.
In the garden, we are feasting on runner beans every night now, trying to think up new ideas of how to cook courgettes, cooking the potatoes which began so small and earthy and now are large and floury – ideal for rolling in olive oil, thyme and a squeeze of lemon then roasting.
Fifey’s amazing hut, made from scavenged window frames mostly, now has a professionally installed woodburner, so we eat our supper in there, watching the sun disappear behind the hills, the cattle grazing and pushing each other around, the rooks heading off to heaven knows where, only to return back to roost about an hour later!
Mary Ann Rogers Gallery, West Woodburn, Hexham NE48 2SE.
Original paintings, limited edition prints, cards and exquisite gifts.
Open: Tues, Thurs, Fri 10-4 also Sun 2-5
www.marogers.com – 07967550772