China Girl blog 12th March 2020

In a land haunted by the past, time runs on, for the winter is past. The unwilling March sun flits through the cloudy skies as the sap rises in the trees, and we wait for things to come.

Mother’s eldest son Jamie had an eye operation in London at the Eye Hospital in Moorfields. It is a long way to go, but is probably the best eye hospital in the world. Each week for a month he has to make the trip to London by train, which is a worry, being in a crowded train. He is not allowed to lift anything, bend down, or drive. We all hope he will be careful and that his sight will be saved.

The whole world seems to be in a worry with the Corona virus on the march. Chris, who was a nurse with forty years’ experience, thinks if we succumb to a mild form of the virus in the early stages, we can then carry on with our lives with greater ease. Mother is like everyone, worried that the public won’t come to the gardens. This morning she rushed into Taunton to see her lawyer and made her will.

On Saturday Caroline Willis who is making part of her film at Cothay, came for the day with her camera man, sound man and actors for the day of filming. Caroline wrote the film, which she is directing, also acting, she made all of the costumes. They arrived at 8am and spent eleven hours filming. She must have been exhausted at the end of the day, driving home in the dark to her three small children; luckily, she has a lovely helpful husband. Amoux Films, Amoux being a mythical French beast, a cross between a wolf and an eagle, is such a great project, she deserves to succeed.

Mother, who buys pearls to thread with silver wire, went to the Rock & Gem Show at Exeter Racecourse, only to find the Afghan dealer who sells pearls wasn’t there. Pearls in their natural state are a pinkish colour, to whiten them they are bleached in the sun. The other colours are dyed in acid. She uses fresh-water pearls, coming from Central China. A Japanese Mikimoto in 1893 succeeded in creating the world’s first cultured pearls. Cultured pearls are created by the same process as natural pearls, but are given a slight nudge by pearl harvesters. To create a cultured pearl, the harvester opens the oyster shell and cuts a small slit in the mantle tissue. Small irritants are then inserted under the mantle. The mantle coves the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.

Britain is still in the early stage of a horrid virus; we pray that we will not be affected as badly as China and Italy. But of course, we are all immortal, until God decides otherwise.