Hearth

Saturday, 6th November 2004
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

The bowl came from a gallery in Settle, the bricks of the hearth are from Nostell, south-east of Wakefield, and the pine dresser in the background was made locally - to a drawing that I supplied - at a workshop in what had been the Slazengers Sports factory at Horbury Bridge.

Most remarkable is that piece of limestone standing behind the bowl. Its surface is rich in shelly fossil debris. My delightful internet friend Rheba Kramer Mitchell and her husband Farris handed it to me, beautifully wrapped, when Barbara and I met them for the first time in September, when we joined them for a meal at the Langham Hotel in London, an adventure which, at the time of writing this, I have yet to include in this diary.

They couldn't have given me anything better. I handed Rheba a little bundle of Sushi Sketchbooks, hoping that she'd invite me to visit them and draw a Sushi on their wildlife ranch, The Lair, in western Texas. It worked; she did invite me! (Us actually, she's wanting some cooking tips from Barbara). Look forward to drawing there amongst the skunks, hummingbirds and deer.

Don't know what they'll make of this damp and drizzly corner of West Yorkshire, with its sparrows and crows, when they visit us.

Related Link

The Lair, Rheba and Farris's wildlife ranch.

Here's an extract from a recent entry in Rheba's Lair Log. No prizes for guessing who she was 'especially (my italics) glad to have the opportunity to get better acquainted with'!

Richard is exactly as I had imagined he would be from our letters, perhaps a bit more energetic, and I was especially glad to have the opportunity to get better acquainted with Barbara. She is easy to be with and I find her lovely . . . We walked and we walked and we walked. We actually walked back to the hotel from the zoo, which at the end of the walk I estimated to be some 475 miles, although I am sure that can't be correct.

(Geographical note: the distance between the zoo and the Langham is in fact a mile and a half).

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk