Thursday 5 January 2012

Share my bath...


Sarah Toa's 'message in bottle' (bah!) post pictures reminded me of the bathroom shelf of our compact but adorable city bathroom, so I thought I would share it with you, since I have just heard that the power-lines at my workshop have been blown over during the high winds of the night, and it will be a while before light is restored.

Aside from the obvious beachy, nautical, splashy-aroundy connotations, it's also a bit of a time capsule spanning around 200 million years, but jumping around 199,9935 years toward the end.

Left to right: A nautilus with the outer layer scraped away to reveal mother from 30+ years ago; a rather unusually whole bivalve scallop bought about 2 weeks ago, but made about 180 million years ago by someone calling himself 'God'; another bivalve collected locally by me, but made around the same time as the other, called a 'Devil's Toe-Nail', but also made by God (there's a lesson in there somewhere); a piece of fossilised wood from Arizona; a star-fish carved out of Bath Stone by someone calling himself 'Tom Stephenson', and on the top of that, an unusual (it's got 6 legs) starfish made from fired ceramic by the 6 year-old grandchild of someone calling himself 'Tom Stephenson'; above and to the left of that, a fossilised fish from the 'Green River' formation in what is now called the USA; another piece of fossilised wood from Morocco; an unfossilised shell of indeterminate age.

All of these items sit on a shelf of Portuguese, pink marble, cut and installed by me about 20 years ago, on the instructions of Her Indoors.

Out of shot, there is also a splash-back of the same pink marble running around the walls of the bath, and the walls themselves have been painted a messy pink by H.I.'s own, fair hand. The end result was all a bit pink for my tastes, but I am sort of used to it now. It still looks a bit like how I imagine the bedroom of Mise's daughter to look sometimes, though.

Splish, splash, splish, splash...

12 comments:

  1. In fact, Mise's daughter has a white bedroom, with the walls mostly covered with A4 sheets of Mise's daughter's paintings, so H.I. would probably approve of the artistic intent if not the lack of pinkness. Mise herself has been ill, but will soon return to Blogtopia.

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  2. Lovely to share your bathroom Tom!

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  3. I love the starfish you made. A lovely collection 'Tom'.

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  4. A non-cabinet of curiosities. I find similar pieces of fossilised wood here; I've had them dated as 13 million years old, from the tertiary period.

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  5. Oh, Oh, Oh!! An interior design post! (Picture me clapping my hands madly while running around the room in circles with uncontrollable joy!) It's such an interesting collection, and everything has a story. Many a grand old house or castle has its treasure room or at least a treasure cabinet where objects of art and curiosity are displayed. This custom is alive and well in Bath - and, in a way, God and T.S. are even design "collegues"!

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  6. Get well soon, Mise.

    Deal, Sarah.

    I have noticed over the years, John, that if you use toilet paper to blow your nose on, it spreads a fine layer of white lint over everything, and this pisses off H.I. very much, because she is the one who instigates little arrangements of knick-knacks everywhere, so she can clear the fucking stuff up. But yes - in general - you're right.

    Only 13 million Cro? Sub-standard in my view.

    If only you would react so positively when I display my latest candlesticks, Iris. You can come round for a bath in Bath too if you like.

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  7. Oops - overlooked your compliment, Suzanne, so you can have this special and unique 'thank you' all for yourself! (and a free bath too).

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  8. Interesting collection - I too like the stone starfish. (Have you got a pink shower hat?)

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  9. Throw in a back scrubbing and a few of your bloggie friends might pop in for a free bath! You do have fluffy towels, don't you? Otherwise it's a no-go.

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  10. I'm ALL fluffy, Iris. I am known for my fluff.

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