A Girly's Christmas in Wales

Paul Wadge Tells Us About Lovespoons

Christmasinwales — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:59:27 GMT

I open the door to Paul Wadge's shop, Lovespoon Wales, one particularly cold afternoon in early January. The shop is somewhat warmer than the outside, but not overwhelmingly so. Paul explains that he doesn't turn a main heater on because it would be a fire hazard. I look at all the many different colored, different sized slabs of wood tucked up against one long wall of his shop and see his point. Also, the heat may crack the wood. Fair enough. Paul invites me back into his work area. Sawdust covers the floor. I sit in a chair that is strategically placed near a space heater. My toes warm. Paul is kind enough to bring me a cup of coffee. My insides warm, and Paul begins telling me about lovespoons.

Q: What exactly is a lovespoon?

A: Going back to the 17th century, it is believed to come from a cowl spoon. A man would carve a lovespoon for a woman based on what he wanted to say to her. A double heart is "we feel the same way" a single heart is "my heart is yours" so its almost like a love letter in wood, because obviously they were illiterate at that time, so he couldn't write her a letter. So he carved one instead. It is believed that if a woman accepted it, it was an acceptance of courtship, but it is not quite as nice as that, unfortunately. A lot of women would have quite a collection of them, and she would go around and pick the one she actually wanted.

Q: How long have you been making lovespoons?

A: The first one I carved was in the 80's.

Q: Did you immediately know that you wanted to go into business
doing this, or how did it evolve?

A: I was carving them for one of the shops in Swansea, and that was financing university because I wanted to finish off my degree and then go into lecturing, but I got bored of that so I changed my mind. I went back into cooking, because I'm a qualified chef. Lovespoon carving was more of a hobby which grew. I set up by myself four years ago.

Q: When you made your fist lovespoon did you teach yourself, or did someone else teach you how to make it?

A: I taught myself. It didn't dawn at me at the time that I couldn't do it. It was just a case of, "I can do it." And luckily, that one little thought has lead to this now.

Q: Did you have any experience in carving or anything close to that?

A: I used to do a lot of cabinet making, I've always loved wood, but no carving as such.

Q: About how long does it take to make a lovespoon?

A: That's the question I get asked all the time. It's virtually impossible to say. It can range, for a little one like that (indicates 3-4 inches with his hands) can be carved in about twenty minutes. One of the more complex spoons can take 10 days to carve. The average one would probably be about a day. Some of them are quite basic and easy to carve and can be knocked out pretty quickly. Once it gets into the Celtic knots and everything it gets more intricate and can take longer.

Q: Do people still use lovespoons today to show signs of courtship?

A: They do, actually. I've got a photograph somewhere of someone who ordered a lovespoon. I had to take a photograph of him with the knife and the chisel so that he could show his intended fianc that he carved it himself. And he used it as a symbol for engagement. As it worked out, it probably would have been cheaper for him to buy an engagement ring than the lovespoon itself because it was quite a complex one. Quite a few people have done that.

Q: That's pretty cool. But I am guessing they are used for other purposes today as well?

A: Yeah, they tend to be used for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings. Weddings in particular. And then a lot go all over the world. Not necessarily Welsh people either. There are people who read the history of the Welshspoon on the website and then like the romantic idea, and they order from that.

Q: What has been your biggest challenge with this business or with lovespoons in general?

A: Probably the Celtic panel that was 3 ft by 1 ft. It was about and inch and a half thick and that has probably been the most difficult thing so far. With lovespoons, it was an American customer whose wife was a chairperson of a daffodil growers society. He wanted a daffodil in a cage instead of a ball in a cage. So it was interesting trying to work that one out.

Thanks to Paul for granting us an interview. Check out his demo video below.

Forgien Bully Squirrels

Christmasinwales — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:03:00 GMT

This is a picture of a cute little grey squirrel hanging out in one of my favorite London Parks: St. James Park.*

He looks cute and innocent, right? Or, for those of you who don't like squirrels, he at least looks like a squirrel who belongs in a park, and isn't doing anything terribly wrong, except maybe trying to bug you for a peanut.

Well, many think this squirrel is not as innocent as he looks. This is a grey squirrel. Grey squirrels are not native to Britain. They were brought over from the US between 1876 and 1929. Before that time, only red squirrels inhabited the U.K., and the grey squirrels haven't exactly been the kindest of immigrants. They have pretty much wiped out the red squirrels.

This is what a red squirrel looks like:

I did not see one at all in my entire trip to the U.K.

I did, however, see plenty of grey squirrels.

*St. James Park is right in front of Buckingham Palace. It is full of beautiful birds, colorful flowers, and enormous pond, and squirrels. : )

Welsh GrrrrL 2

Christmasinwales — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:12:18 GMT

This was one of my favorite Christmas Presents! It is a Starbucks mug with a Welsh Dragon on it. : )

I saw it in a Starbucks in London, and Ashley's parents saw how excited I gotover it. I would have bought it right then and there, but we were leaving the store and the line was gigantic.

This was two days before Christmas.

On Christmas Day, Ashley's family gave me this mug.

They are sneaky. : )

Turns out they got it in Cardiff when they were swinging through to pick up other Christmas suprises.

Aren't they nice? : )

By the way...

Christmasinwales — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:15:07 GMT

A certain PNN-ite is in possesion of two smal gifts that two other PNN-ites requested from Wales. Do these people remember who they are and what they requested? We shall find out next week. : )

Baby, It's (going to be) Cold Outside. Welsh Style.

Christmasinwales — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:13:04 GMT

The ever famous Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews (both Welsh musicians) did a duet of the song Baby, It's Cold Outside, a few years ago, and I have been looking for an excuse to post it somehow on my website. Classic Christmas song performed by two Welsh artists? You can't get more perfect for A Girly's Christmas in Wales.

My excuse for posting? It was very cold today AND it might snow tomorrow. Yay! It could royally screw up our plans for my last few days here, but unexpected snow is a decent excuse for screwed up plans, I think.

The video posted below was taken at Hootenanny a few years ago. Jools Holland (a music show host and accomplished musician) hosts the Hootenanny every New Years, and he and other accomplished and little known musicians (this year Paul Mc Cartney and Kate Nash were there) ring in the year musically (and with a giant clock hanging in the background). We watched it this year, as it was on during Ashley's parent's New Years party. It was quite enjoyable. Made me want to buy Kate Nash's CD. (Ashley describes Kate Nash as a more talented Lily Allen, in case anyone is interested.)

Hope you enjoy the musical treat posted below. : )

Some Cute Conwy Castle-ness...

Christmasinwales — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:30:01 GMT

We got back from a two day trip to North Wales last night, then enjoyed a bit of New Years Celebrations before catching soe much needed z's.

We visited three castles: Conwy, Caernarthon and Harlech. They were all built by King Edward I, which means that they were all built in Wales by the English in order to keep the English safe from the Welsh. Wierd.

Conwy was my favorite castle, and I posted some pictures of it above. The wall is still almost entirely intact, and we walked all the way around town on it. At dusk. It was wonderfully picturesque.

Where are the pictures of this wonderfully picturesque dusk-ness, you ask?

I don't want to talk about it.

Well, ok. I'll tell you. All the cameras we had on us (three total) ran out of batteries at pretty much the same time. I started taking photos with the videocamera, but there wasn't a memory chip in there to store them, so the camera just made a little clicking noise without actually taking a picture of anything.

Cute. Real cute.

Instead, I took videos, and plan to take still images from them at a later date.

Sigh. I hope my plan works.

On a more fun note, there was a mad orange cat hanging around Conwy Castle. And I mean literally, almost hanging. He decided it was a brilliant idea to hunt pigeons that were chillin along the ruins of the castle ceilings.

I am really glad he didn't over estimate and jump right off. That would have been horrible.

Bridget Jones is a tiny bit less mad than I thought.

Christmasinwales — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:27:22 GMT

...Just a little bit. She is qute mental, though in an endearing and cool way. In the book, Bridget Jones's Diary, she counts how many calories she eats,what she weighs, how many ciggiesshe has, and how many alcoholic units she takes in everyday. I thought it was quite daft to record alcoholic untis in this way, as drinks can vary in alcohol content quite a bit. I thought she was refferring to alcohol units as an individual alcoholic drink. Then at dinner today, I saw this:

Look closely, and you will see that the label on my cider says that it contains one unit of alcohol.

ohhhhh...

She's a little less mental than I thought.

Which is good, because everyone else seem to be crazy lately. Ashley got rammed in the car park last night once, and nearly rammed another time... all within a one minute period. And it was pissing down rain.

Then today at the pub I ordered coffee twice. Once I got a Latte, another time an Americano.

Oh, and did you know that if you order bread and butter as a starter at Harry Ramsdens (a famous fish and chips place) you get this:

Again,

"?"

But I was the only one who thought it was strange.

On the bight side, I met up with my friend Helen and her BF Gareth (can't get a much more Welsh name than that!) tonigt. Besides having fish and chips, we walked around the Winter Wonderland in Cardiff

And this one is for mum. It's a dragon attacking Cardiff Castle.

Hope the castle has enough resources to defend itself!

Off to North Wales tomorrow morning. Am v.excited.

Sometimes things aren't too different...

Christmasinwales — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:38:53 GMT

Sometimes there are vast differences between cultures. Some times the differences are small. And sometimes they don't even realy seem to exist at all.

On the 27th, the day after Boxing Day, people got up in the wee hours of the morning in order to line up ot side for the annual, Post-Christmas, 1/2 Price "Next" Sale.

Next is a Men's and Women's store that is sort of a cross between Gap and Express. They have nice basics, but cute evening and day clothes as well.

I didn't get up in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing like it, in fact. Around 12:30 ("half twelve") I arrived with Ashley's mum (Barbara) his bro (Jordan), Jordan's girlfirend (Aimee), and Aimee's mum (Jan).

Two small things that were different abot Next after Christmas sales and American after-Christmas sales:

It didn't start until the day after Boxing Day. American ones start on Boxing Day.
In America you can use the fitting rooms during this psycho sale period. At Next, you haveto take a good guess, buy it, take it home, and bring it back if it doesn't work.

On a personal note, I think this is the most sucessful shoppig spree I have ever been on. I got a dress I had been lookingfor for ages, a cute black skirt, nice brown trousers, and a fun green shirt for 42 quid. (thanks mom/stacey/grandma!)

BTW, my laptop is having major issues. All videos posted from now on will be posted 100% unedited, unless problem is fixed (unlikely).

: (

Bad Throat! Bad!

Christmasinwales — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:10:25 GMT

Today was the day after Christmas, AKA Boxing Day. I spent pretty much all of the day ill, or "poorly" as they would say over here in the UK. But since I am in Wales, my symptoms were described a little differently than they would be here. Instead of a headache, I had a bad head. Instead of a sore throat, a bad throat. And, well, you get the picture.

All day, I kept thinking of the show we saw in London a few days ago. It's based on the comic The Adventures of Tin Tin, and it was quite enjoyable and clever. Snowy, Tintin's dog who is normally a "Good Dog," drinks some of the Captain's whiskey at one point in the show. Bad Dog! Tintin tells him when he discovers his furry little mate is drunk. And in the morning, Snowy moans "Bad head, bad head!" to descibe his hangover headache. In New York, San Francisco, or anywhere else in the U.S. he would say "my head hurts," or "I have a headache," but here it's bad head. Mundane cultural realities are prevelant in the arts, and American culture is not the center of everyone's universe, this reminds me.

Anyways, what do you do when you are ill in the UK on Boxing Day?

Take paracetemol tablets, suck on strepsils, drink tea, and watch the entire series of Spaced (an amazing and addictive Simon Pegg British tv show from around '98) on DVD.

Food I Missed.

Christmasinwales — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:12:55 GMT

I had my first sausage roll in three years the other day.

It was heaven.

People slag off British food as being bland, tasteless, and even non-existant, but there are certain foods that I love and that you can only get in the UK. (At least in good distribution. Because of globalization you can get almost everything British in America, but it's just not the same somehow).

Sausage rolls are one. They, and pasties are little bakeries in villages, towns, and cities everywhere. You can get them in chain bakeries (like Greggs) or a local one. They are cheap, and great little filling, inexpensive, and warm snacks. I tend to enjoy mine with oragne fanta, which is only recently available in the US.

I've also ben enjoying as many servings of Bangers and Mash, Magners Hard Cider, thai sweet chilli flavored crisps (chips), malteasers, and pre-packaged tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches as I can.

And don't forget the Sunday Dinners. Complete with turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing balls, and yorkshires.

Yum.

Blip.tv is being Naughty this Christmas...

Christmasinwales — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:28:00 GMT

Find a little Christmas present here.

Back From London!

Christmasinwales — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:07:29 GMT

I've Arrived!

Christmasinwales — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:55:01 GMT

Just in case anyone is worried, I did arrive safely and soundly at London Heathrow airport on December 18. My flight was a regular, International, overnight coach flight. I tried to sleep, but was too crucnched. I ate some food, watched some movies, and tried to knit but had little elbow room and willpower, so gave up.

Here I am getting on the plane:

I made a my way through customs, but I did get a glare from the lady checking me through when I told her I didn't have a print out of my return ticket. She asked me a series of seemingly random questions, including whether my job at PNN required me to wok from an office or at home. In the end, she let me go, and a stamp on my passport says I can stay here for six months. Ashley picked me up, and we drove along the wrong side of the M4, into the sunset, and towards Wales.

We arrivved at Ashley's family's cozy little house in Cwmbran aound 7 pm. My jet-lagged self was unsure as to what day and time it really was, but everyone assured me that it was 7pm on Tuesday. I believed them in the end.

After a goon nap, a sleepless night, a late night snack and giggle with Ashley, and another morning time nap, we headed out to Swansea, the city I went to school in for a year.

That place has changed so much in the past few years. Here is a glimpse of good old Wind Street (AKA, Street-o-Bars and late night madness).

Then we went to a bar that I had always thought looked cool, but never got to go to. It's called Monkey Bar. It's indie and hip, and I loved it.

We went back to Ashley's awful Uni housing in Brynmill (a section of Swansea) and I, once again, didn't fall asleep until quite late.

After a little more shopping around town, we went to the beach, then headed back to Cwmbran.

Tomorrow, we head off to London in the wee hours of the morning. More after we get back on Sunday eve!

See you then...

Jaime

Getting Ready to Go: The Rough Cut

Christmasinwales — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:40:45 GMT

My experiments with making a movie with a new camera, new laptop, and new movie editing software.

A Child's Chrstmas in Wales

Christmasinwales — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:36:46 GMT

"One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six."

Read the rest of Dylan Thomas's famous story, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" here.

By the way... did you know that this short story was adapted from a piece that Thomas originally wrote for radio?