Monday, August 26, 2019

Walk With Me


Yesterday was SO beautiful -- sunny and warm, full of all the satisfaction of late summer. The season is a little bit beyond its high point, and all of nature is as green and ripe and full as it's going to get. The butterflies are flitting, the hoverflies are buzzing, the blackberries are already past their peak, the thistles and ragwort and rosebay willowherb are drifting away as fluffy seeds, and Olga and I were out on the Heath, naturally.

I usually don't walk the dog with music on, but for some reason yesterday I put in my headphones and cranked up my iTunes, and it felt fabulous to walk along in the sun-dappled forest listening to groovy tunes while Olga raced ahead with her Kong toy. I've made a 3 1/2-minute video, a very condensed version of our 2 1/2-hour walk, so you can experience it too!


I found a couple of interesting pieces of old glass. The first is a portion of a bottle marked around the bottom "H. D. Rawlings Ltd. London" -- as you can see, it's rather dangerously jagged and cracked so I'm not going to keep it, but I like to make a record of these finds just in case they're something interesting. Rawlings was a soft-drink manufacturer in the Victorian era, it turns out.


The other is also a piece of broken bottle -- a smaller one, dark green, marked Pitt & Norrish. (I made the very un-archaeological mistake of dropping this piece on my patio, breaking it further. Argh! I had to glue it for the photo.) Pitt & Norrish was another soft drink manufacturer, from what I can gather. I don't see any bottles online that look quite like this one -- I wish it were whole. Oh well.

More great weather today -- and it's a bank holiday, which means we're off work! Woo hoo!

22 comments:

crafty cat corner said...

Thank you, so lovely.
Briony
x

gz said...

(0)

Alphie Soup said...

Olga blends in with the light and shade. Or should that be shadows and light?
Alphie

Mary said...

I'm guessing someone had a bath when she got home. Good times!

Does your Pitt & Norrish remnant look like one of the bottles on this site: http://www.codds-n-odds.co.uk/dumpies.html -- fourth one down on the right? But perhaps from the other side? This site refers to them as Seltzers. Interesting finds--as you say, just a little dangerous with those jagged tops.

Ms. Moon said...

Happy Olga dancing in the shadows and light of late summer. And what a great song!

Colette said...

I do feel like I have taken a walk with you. Fun.

Vivian Swift said...

That is a lovely movie. It made me very happy to watch it, and I will file it away for three months from now when I will need a shot of sunlight on a dark and cold November day, which I am already dreading.

I have to know who does that song and how you found it. Is it a deep track from the late '70s?

ellen abbott said...

such a beautiful place and it always seems so deserted.

Edna B said...

I really enjoyed this walk with you and Olga. Those bottles are really interesting. Wow, did they really have glass bottles back then? It will be interesting to see what you find out about the other piece of bottle. Enjoy your day off! Hugs, Edna B.

Red said...

The season is definitely beyond the high point but it's a very mellow time of year.

Anonymous said...

Olga looks so happy in the video. Nice walk there on such a lovely summer day.

Sharon said...

What a great video! It's amazing to have all that wooded area right in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world. I love it.

Catalyst said...

I think the only reason Olga wallows in the ponds and mud bogs and dirt holes is she knows that will mean you HAVE to give her a bath when you both get home!

jenny_o said...

Ah, Olga always knows how to smile for the camera! Wonderful video :)

37paddington said...

I really think archeology is your path not taken, or else you were one in a previous life. Such interesting finds.

Linda Sue said...

BEST walk , that was fun. What a beautiful day. Of course you would find cool stuff, Maybe mudlarking is in your future?

Unknown said...

This video made my evening. I am housebound but I walked along with you. Thanks ever so much

EH

The Padre said...

Highly Entertaining Video!! Also, Your A Passionflower and a Lantern Post Took My Breath Away. Brilliant Eye There Brother Reed.

Cheers

e said...

This was wonderful!

Comox Valley and beyond said...

Lovely video well done, Olga is a lucky dog room to run and swim all that while living in the city.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I loved this. Cool music, a happy dog, good weather. The mood was only slightly jarred by the blackened curly donkey turd that kept appearing. At one point you were even holding this item in your hand!

Steve Reed said...

Thanks for the comments, everybody!

Alphie: I noticed how well Olga is camouflaged in a sun-dappled environment!

Mary: This bottle had a relatively small diameter, so I don't think it's one of those "dumpy" ones. But who knows. With such a small fragment it's hard to tell.

Vivian: The song is called "Sun Go Down" by a group called Fat Night. It sounds very '70s but it's actually relatively recent, I think. I don't remember where I first heard it -- maybe some TV show? But I liked it enough to add it to my iTunes.

Ellen: Most people tend to stick to the main paths. We like to wander through the woods!

Edna: Glass bottles go way, WAY back in human history. The ancient Romans had glass!

Catalyst: Olga really doesn't WANT a bath. Trust me.

YP: People have funny reactions to the Kong. I passed a family where the little girl said, "The dog has a ball!" And the father said, "Ummm..that's not a ball..." I'm not sure WHAT he thought it was but he sounded unnerved!