Repairing a Table

 Last year, when I first moved in, a friend gave me a small table to use in the garden.

Sadly, it's an indoor table, so a year outside has taken its toll, resulting in one third of the top falling off (it's made with three pieces of wood held together with glue and battens underneath).

My mum had a clever idea - when she needed a small outdoor table, her partner had got a large decorative tile to use as the top.

So I went down to Huws Grey.  A very helpful young man showed me what they had - mostly patio paving slabs, but with a few nice pieces of slate that were a bit too big for my purposes.  I told him about my mum's idea, and added that decorative tilework is more of a thing in Cyprus.  "We're a bit more boring here," he agreed.

The equally helpful young man in the bathroom and kitchen building showed me some pictures of tiles which might have been suitable, but he would have to send off for them and I only wanted one, so it didn't seem worth going to all that trouble.

I popped into Hay & Brecon Farmers, since I was passing, and had an "Aha!" moment.  They were selling toughened glass kitchen counter protectors/cutting boards, which were about the right size - but I didn't really want an amusing cartoon involving farm animals on my table top.

As it's Saturday, the craft fair is in the Buttermarket, and I had another "Aha!" moment.  One of the regular stalls sells glass cutting boards, decorated with artwork from the local area.  I chose a seascape painted at Ogmore, which goes very well with my grey garden furniture.

It didn't take long to prise the remaining side piece of wood from the top of the table, leaving the middle one in place as a base for my new top.  I already had suitable glue.

And, voila!

 

Christmas Lights in June

 The Buttermarket is being dressed with Christmas lights today, in preparation for filming of a Christmas romance film!  Some of the shops around the Buttermarket are putting Christmas displays in their windows, too.  Roads in the middle of town will be closed for a few days while filming goes on.

Printers Fair

 I really enjoyed the Printers' Fair - two floors of stalls with all sorts of beautiful artwork and letterpress text.  I treated myself to a print with a line of Gerald Manley Hopkins poetry on it: "Glory be to God for dappled things" from the poem Pied Beauty, and it's a limited edition.  Mine is no. 6 of 100.  It was made by Kathleen Littler, who uses wood engraving, with incredibly fine detail - she has a website at www.kathlittler.co.uk

The chap from Prints of Hay was giving out free prints of Hay Castle, and I also got some cards.  I especially liked the Francesca Kay cards with simple cutouts and haiku poems.  My favourite was Anubis: 

"He protects the Dead, 

But they're quite self-sufficient,

It's not a hard job."

Several of the stalls will be at the Marches Makers Festival in Kington from Saturday 2nd May to Monday 4th May.  I hope they come back to the Castle sometime, too.

There were also families looking round the Castle, and I found two little girls with their parents in the costume corner, having a swordfight with wooden swords.  So I asked if the bigger girl would like to know how to do real sword moves, and taught her the basic defensive positions, which I think we both enjoyed immensely. 

Meanwhile down in the Buttermarket there was a Craft Fair going on, and I treated myself to two hand made pottery bowls from Helen's Art Creation.  She also sells on Etsy as helensartcreation

 

Fairtrade Fair

 It's the annual Fairtrade Fair at the Buttermarket today, with silver jewellery from Timbuktu, a stall with information about the Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, food and olive oil from Zaytoun, and embroidery from Bethlehem, Love Zimbabwe with tablecloths and metal sculptures, pottery, Christmas decorations, and more.

I bought two slate coasters, featuring a turtle which reminded me of Discworld and a tree that looked as if it had come straight out of Lord of the Rings (the lady who made them had never heard of Discworld!)

Also in the middle of town this week, there's a pop up Christmas shop at The Chair.  Five different vendors are sharing the space, and when I went in yesterday some jolly Ukrainian folk music was playing - to go with the gorgeous embroidered clothing from  Ukraine at the back of the shop. 

Fairtrade Fair and the Come Back Choir

 Saturday 20th December is going to be busy.  The annual Fairtrade Fair will be on at the Buttermarket.  Among the usual offerings will be some Zeytoun goods from Palestinian suppliers - who need all the help they can get at the moment.

Then, in the afternoon at the Globe - I think they start at 2.30pm - the Come Back Choir are giving a free concert.  These are members of the Village Quire who decided they still wanted to sing some of that wonderful repertoire when the Village Quire was wound up, with a few new members in the mix. 

Blustery Fungi Weekend

 Storm Amy is causing problems for the Fungi Town weekend - the Saturday Market has been cancelled because it's too blustery to put the stalls up.  Only the Buttermarket has stalls today, because it's more sheltered.  Several of the shops have put up fungus themed window displays, but not many people are lingering outside to see them.

Lots of people were up at the Castle when I went in, though - and there is a magnificent array of fungi for them to look at.  I was pleased to find that I recognised about half of them (my ex-husband used to lead Fungus Forays for the Brecknock Wildlife Trust, and I picked up a bit of knowledge while I was trailing round after him!).  There are also talks and activities throughout the weekend.

They're hoping for better weather tomorrow! 

Pulp Fiction Exhibition

 I went up to the Buttermarket this morning to see the new Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition, which is all about paper, from the making of paper in a traditional French mill to the many uses of paper.  There was a lovely little paper theatre, for example, and some weaving of linen and paper by a local student.

Below are the Malian writing boards, part of the collection of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Below that is an installation called Needle in a Haystack, inspired by a work by Nigel Kerry (no books were harmed in the making of this artwork - the books were actually borrowed from Hay Cinema Bookshop).

 

 The last picture is some information about the pollution problems that paper use causes.  Other information posters were placed around the exhibition.  For instance, 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are used in Britain every year, and only 1 in 400 is recycled, and 42% of the global wood harvest is used to make paper, the majority of which is used for packaging - and with the growth of companies like Amazon, packaging is big business these days.

Meanwhile in the Moulin du Verger near Angouleme, a master papermaker still makes high quality paper out of rags in the traditional way - there was a short film, in French, about the process.

 The exhibition is also on tomorrow, and is free.

Pulp Fiction Posters

 There's always a way to get a picture if you really want to!

Pulp Fiction

 I tried to copy the poster across, but the computer won't let me do it.

However, the Cabinet of Curiosities and Botany and Other Stories are putting an exhibition on in the Buttermarket on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th April.  It will celebrate paper in all its forms (especially books) and the links between paper and the natural world.  The title is Pulp Fiction.

The exhibition is free, and there will also be an opportunity to become a Friend of Botany and Other Stories, to find out the plans for 2025, and for young people to join the Budding Botanical Artists Club.