Category: material life

Making bricks by hand

September 20, 2021 a-roving material life
I must first admit that I’ve never given much thought to bricks. We don’t use them for building in California (because, you know, earthquakes), and elsewhere in the country they’re just part of the built environment — in the background. But in Uganda, with a young and growing population and…

Tea for me!

June 26, 2018 a-roving eating well material life
I hadn’t planned to treat myself that afternoon, but I know how it happened: a long midday walk through Belgravia and Hyde Park had left my feet aching and my stomach growling. Plus, I had three more hours to kill before the evensong service at St. Paul’s. So what should I…

Façades and derrières

June 19, 2018 a good book a-roving material life
“Where have you been all these weeks? Don’t tell me you’ve been getting into mischief again!” “No, no, I’ve been behaving very decorously,” he assured her. “You have to in Bath — a devilish place!” (Georgette Heyer, Black Sheep) Several times during my visit, I heard the assertion that in Jane Austen’s day…

Nom de plumber

June 17, 2018 a-roving material life
Plumbing the depths What most intrigued me about my visit to Bath’s Roman Baths was what I learned there about lead. The Romans used lead mined from the nearby Mendip Hills to line their bathing pools, as well as the conduits through which water was channeled from the sacred spring…

Out and about in Bath

June 15, 2018 a good book a-roving material life
Another postcard from Bath First of all, I had no idea that Bath was on the River Avon— or any river, for that matter. Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer had sadly misled me on this point! Or, more likely, they thought it so obvious that there was no need to mention…