England - More of York

So, my dear readers, it is Friday, so let's continue our photo tour of York....we are still inside York Minster for the moment.

Here is closer detail of those golden bosses I mentioned in my previous post, the center one is about five feet across but from the floor of the Minster it is impossible to imagine. I wonder how often the original worshipers in this lovely place looked up? Probably a lot! I know I would.

And not only directly up, but also up obliquely at all the stained glass windows, which I have barely yet mentioned. It is impossible to understand the affect of these windows through photos; you really have to experience them in person. But some of their beauty can be captured in bits and pieces with photos....


Do you see the heart?







Be sure to click this one! Even the clear glass in the center is not just plain glass, but etched with beautiful leaves.

Arches abound everywhere, not only lending strength and support to the building, but pointing one's attention always upward....



Arches within arches within arches.....



...even within the designs of the magnificent windows....



Here is part of the pipe organ, seen from inside the quire (choir)....even the pipes are richly adorned in color and pattern. Rather appropriate, don't you think, for this instrument of praise to be so beautified to honor the works of the Master Artist Himself....just look at the world around us! If you wonder what I'm talking about, it takes only a cursory look under the sea at all those fantastical and colorful and highly patterned sea creatures to know that God loves color, pattern, whimsy, and endlessly surprising variety! He invented them.



Speaking of the quire (don't you love that old spelling for choir!!), here it is. This is where we experienced the lovely sung service of Evensong. And we were allowed to sit in those boxes right next to the boys choir that sang the service; they occupied the boxes in the middle on either side of the aisle, and we were on either side of them. The evening we experienced this wonder also happened to be the evening BBC Radio 3 was broadcasting the service live to the nation. Regrettably I was not able to find a link that would allow us to hear it again....




This is not my photo....photo source HERE

But perhaps this will compensate....while searching online I ran across this great photo, a view of York Minster from high up in one of the towers, and towers mean bells!! So....to watch the York Minster bell ringers practicing, and to hear those gorgeous tones, click HERE. I think you will be pleased.



And now...it is time to return to earth and go back inside....

One of the chapels for prayer is graced with this lovely scroll work screen....and I was enchanted by the pretty red elephant emblem with "Hindoostan" written around its perimeter.

...we saw an elephant weather vane at Oxford and now this little elephant at York....

...which brings me to a certain little song...

...I should warn you that we are leaving the lovely York Minster now...

...and moving into a bit of silliness....

... a funny little song that Martin the tour guide taught us one day while tooling down the road in our big green luxury coach...

....Nellie the Elephant...

You can hear the original version sung in 1956 by child actress Mandy Miller HERE. Martin promised us that this lively little tune would haunt us the rest of our days and we would find ourselves humming when we least expect it....and he was right!

Did you listen?
Okay, now it's your turn....altogether now....

Art found HERE

To Bombay
a traveling circus came
They brought an intelligent elephant
and Nellie was her name

One dark night
she slipped her iron chain,
and off she ran to Hindustan
and was never seen again

*

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and said goodbye to the circus
off she went with a trumpety
trump trump trump trump

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and trundled off to the jungle
off she went with a trumpety trump
trump trump trump

*

Night by night
she danced to the circus band
When Nellie was leading the big parade
she looked so proud and grand

No more tricks
for Nellie to perform
They taught her how to take a bow
and she took the crowd by storm

*

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and said goodbye to the circus
off she went with a trumpety
trump trump trump trump

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and trundled off to the jungle
off she went with a trumpety trump
trump trump trump

*

The head of the herd
was calling far far away
they met one night in silver light
on the road to Mandalay

*

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and said goodbye to the circus
off she went with a trumpety
trump trump trump trump

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and trundled off to the jungle
off she went with a trumpety trump
trump trump trump

You gotta love it!

And now it is time to move on from elephants to mice....

...but first, a walk along the old city wall....


There is York Minster seen from the wall...the conical roof belongs to the Chapter House.


...some of the homes are built right up against the wall....




This may look like we are going up, but we are really going down, coming off the wall and down to street level again.



A few blocks along and around a corner and we come to this...what's so special about this? Well...


Do you see the little mouse? This door is the work of Robert Thompson (1876-1955), also known as "Mousie" Thompson or the "Mouseman" because of the trademark he created: a small mouse carved on almost every piece of furniture that he made. And the tradition continues even today, as this website can attest: Robert Thompson's Craftsmen Ltd.

Quoted from there:

Robert Thompson, “The Mouseman of Kilburn”, recognised the relationship we have with wood and chose to work with only the best quality naturally seasoned English oak (quercus robur). The oak tree takes several hundred years to reach maturity and nature’s influence during that time will create variations in colour and texture. These add to the character of each item created at Robert Thompson’s and over the years the patina will develop with waxing and polishing. Robert loved this relationship between nature and creativity, developing his skills to produce the very finest craftsmanship in English oak.

Also:

Robert Thompson, born in 1876 dedicated his life to the craft of carving and joinery in English Oak. He taught himself to use the traditional tools and by 1919 he was experimenting with his own ideas for producing furniture based on the English styles of the 17th Century.

Now the famous mouse symbol, found on every item crafted by Robert Thompson’s has an uncertain history. The story told by Robert Thompson himself is that one of his craftsmen remarked that they “We all as poor as church mice” Whereupon Robert carved a mouse on the church screen he was working on. That particular mouse has never been found but it has continued as a trade mark of quality and dedication to craftsman ever since.

Image found HERE

Several of his pieces can be found in York Minster. When you visit you can pick up a little brochure that gives hints about where they might be. With Martin's help, I saw one of them...there wasn't time to look for the others, which also include a little squirrel and a dog. The brochure gives it's hints in the form of rhyming riddles and the last verse goes:

Your search has ended and now you know
Some Minster secrets, and when you go
Back to your homes, remember well
Little creatures in this great church dwell



which reminds me of the hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful, which begins:

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Click HERE to listen.