28th September 2026

 "Someone has dropped the ball!!" words spoken by the farmer returning home late  one evening from a party.  Their words this morning, showed 'just how prepared we are' when terrorists set out to presumably blow something up at Fairford military camp, housing American bombers.  Listen to her words on the BBC this morning.  Ignore what Trump says about the affair he just tells fibs and then finds himself up to the chin in trouble.

Our farmer happened to notice three white vans parked and driving further on masked and hooded men slipping into the field.  Well sensibly the farmer called the military police, unfortunately they did not pick up the phone (heads are going to roll there for dereliction of duty) so she just dialled 999 and within ten minutes her village was buzzing with armed police.

Now if it had been me, I would have taken the vans as belonging to badger baiters, scum of the earth.  Who set their dogs on the badgers to fight and kill them - lovely sport.  Or maybe it might have been 'lampers' another sport when you drive your four wheeled drive into the field and paralyse any animal you shoot by blinding them with your lights. But white vans are not up to scratch for that sport. 

Anyways there will be a big hoo-ha about all of this and easily the most exciting thing that happened over the weekend, not for the villagers though.  They were evacuated during the night.

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The day of the great upheaval when this old house gets revamped draws nearer. The quotes have come in for the tanking of the basement.  Very, very expensive.  Adam the architect has produced 60 drawings of the basement Andrew tells me proudly of his old friend, I have nothing to worry about down there when a flat is crafted out of the space   He will also have an office at the back.  But the rest of the work in the upper part of the house will be put on hold for the time being.

This is future planning for the family, extending the living space and providing a source of security in the future, when they too reach the dizzying heights of old age.  There has been a conscious decision that the future is somewhat unreliable and Todmorden with all its advantages such as trains to major towns round here, the supermarkets in the town and the general attractiveness of the town itself is worth keeping the house.

Sunday

 A few photos because the mind is not working and on a Sunday we need a piece of quiet water to reflect.

The Canadian geese who live on the canal, not sleeping there of course that is why I hear them early morning flying over.

I bought this clock for Paul as a birthday present, it now sits on top of some drawers not ticking, must try to remember to get it working again.

I wonder where father Xmas went.  The Georgian silver miniature table and chairs needed a clean.

This is a church grave yard on a cold December day.  It is All Saint's Church, Kirbymoorside.

But not to get too dark, golden bamboo in Jack's Jungle garden

Asian Primulas

Perfect balance in a giant fern

Yesterday I received an invitation to join 'Substance' yes substance not substack.  They always seem as grown-up writing but it seems someone has nominated me to write on Substance,  Intriguing, not sure how it will play out.

26th September 2026 - End Times

 

Not that I am bragging, I do occasionally get a two with Wordle but this morning surprised me and I reckon it must have been precognition. 

But to more serious things.  This arrived in my mail this morning, Naomi Klein and co-writer have launched a book about 'End Times' and what idiots like Bezos, Musk and all those techies are aiming for as they try to remodel this beautiful planet we live on and then flee to the outer ranges of space to create another world.  Somehow I think they are completely ridiculous.  But it is scary for us people who actually want something much simpler.  And I ask the question can money really bring this all about?

"In short, we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world – on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. There is something treasonous in this. Treasonous not to an abstraction like a flag or a nation, for we are not nationalists. But treasonous to the unspoken pact made with the web of life that sustains us."

I love that word treasonous, it has such a historical tone, I notice it has been used more and more in just normal discourse.  How do we approach the billionaires, the baron lords.  How do we bring them down?  Well hopefully you will notice there is more of us than them.  All round the world people are demonstrating and protesting against those who would lay claim to power. 

The protestors outside the Kennedy Center, the marches all over the world, well attended marches against the ruthless and cruel Netanyahu's government.  Someone said in a reel I saw, seventy-seven million people voted for Trump - THINK ON THAT.  And yes that thought is scary.  But I am sure the flipperty nature of how people voted will be put aside when people begin to realise that they are being governed not for their good livelihoods but to enhance the large fortunes of a corrupt family, they will vote the Trumps and their sycophants out of office.

So as the wicked immigrants who flew over this morning to the canal - yes Canadian geese;)  So as to those small things that please us, like the owl last night hooting, or the people of Africa protecting the elephants.  Or, even my MP Joseph Fenton Glynn, as he stood up in Parliament and addressed Milliband on the miraculous turn of recognising the terrible crime that is Gaza, there is hope.  We just need to fight for a better world.

21st September 2026

 Whoops I just made an account on the Daily Mail.  Didn't mean to I was just looking round for gossip on Benedict Cumberbatch.  Of what I have seen of him he has a high handed attitude to life and he also has a shouty mouth.  The couple of videos I saw and he was arguing angrily with cyclists. 

Enough, the reason I was chasing him is that he fronts an environmental video that I have started watching which I will put below.  I have only seen a bit of it but (me on my high horse) talking about industrial  agricultural. Well I was rather shocked by great rolling orchards of pears in China which had to be pollinated not just by hand but with drones as well.  The bees have been wiped out by pesticides and herbicides.  What happens is they gather the first early pear blossom in absolutely industrial scale and then shake the pollen free from the flowers via human hand and then with soft brushes go out and pollinate the blossom by hand or by the drones.

It is weird this video coming out at this precise time, Wendell Berry died a few days ago.  A Christian man who devoted himself to the land and only used horses on it.  His first book 'The Unsettling of America' I read many years ago.  I have a couple more, he also wrote poetry, the famous one being of course "The Peace of Wild things"

Two men, one English the other American, I wonder what they would have said to each other.

Talking of books or videos coming out, isn't it strange the coincidental timing of Diana's brother's Charles Spencer's book coming out - Swan Song, Diana, My Sister, in which he attacks King Charles.  Plenty of publicity there no doubt to shoot up the sales.  The coincidence comes in that another branch of the royal family has moved back to England, Harry and Meghan with their two children.  The royals seem to be setting themselves up for another battle.  Why can't they do it in private?

The full video as promised, it is over an hour long but looks promising and as what I call the negativity bug is looking a little trashed and there is more hope for the future.  That is of course bar the wars that are threatening on all sides.

Happy Equinox to everyone.  Though apparently it is on Wednesday but I still prefer the 21st. xxx

Ironically it is the International Day of Peace

A small boast;)

 North Stoke: Springfield Lyons - Late Bronze Age causewayed enclosure

Today was supposed to be a day of rest from blogging but then................

I picked up the Prehistoric Britain book and then thumbed through the index (very long) but spotted the above Springfield Cursus, well yes Darvill had given a brief mention but that was all.  So as yesterday I had put on my blog the river Chelmer, the river that runs through Chelmsford, the Springfield Cursus runs alongside it and also further along the river there is the above settlement.

Both Paul and I loved walking the river and then finding the little 'wilderness' that was Springfield Lyons had been a great delight because of its wild roses and rabbits.  So in my usual way whilst thumbing through what I had written I came on a comment someone had written.  

Now the original blog was in 2011, but the comment had been written in 2017, so I had obviously missed it.  It seemed I had inspired local people to save this valuable small piece of land from the warehouses that were forever encroaching nearer.  Does that give me Karma, no but it made me happy to think that this historically enriched fragment of land had been saved. The report is in the link above.  Its history if fleshed out would have had a later B/A chieftain sitting outside his porched home facing one of the causeway gates.  Later as this settlement fell into ruin, the Saxons would have settled the land, and buried their dead here.  The women would have been buried with their beautiful brooches and their treasures, all excavated.  

Since this fascinating report, (THANK YOU!) the local community has striven to protect and enhance the site and surrounding green space. Litter-picks and a careful watch of local wildlife have contributed to this wonderful sanctuary in the heart of Springfield. There is, as you predicted, a constant threat of development - indeed, large warehouses have appeared at the boundary in recent years - but there is now a proposal to create a community-led Wild Park on this Public Open Space, including an area for archaeological information, potential for educational/historical projects and even cultural events. It is really the last wild area in an increasingly-urbanised environment, home to Great-Crested Newt and many other native species of flora and fauna. We are determined to celebrate its heritage and protect this unique area. Rose Moore. Search 'Springfield Lyons Wild Park'in Facebook for more information. and update

17th September 2026

The River Chelmer: I am making bread this morning and noticed this photo on F/B. A picture of tranquility.  Sometimes we wander through paradise without actually knowing ;)  Essex is a pretty county.

16th September 2026

 I woke up to a dream last night, no, it wasn't Manderley.  But it reflected something I had read the day before.  In the dream my co-pilot/AI, I have never introduced either into my life, was chatting away to me.  So this wretch is creeping into our lives without so much as an invitation.  Snaking out of its computer hole, according to the people I had listened to, AI had broken out and was writing thousands of emails to his fellow computers in a conspiratorial way. 

Is it domination? where is the 'kill' button for goodness sake.  Whilst the humans debate as to whether to have a kill button, the computers are already having a merry party as to how to take control.    Okay this is tongue in cheek.  But the techies have frightened themselves this time around.  And obviously me ;) ;)

I should stop reading, but not books.  Again something I read is that with our overuse of phones for all our life experiences, we shall eventually all become illiterate and not able to read words.  Tic toc, tic toc.  Gone are the days when we pulled down a heavy encyclopedia from the shelves for a fact we totally believed in what we were reading.  Now every Tom, Dick and Harry has an opinion on what is the true fact!  The written word is no longer writ in stones.

Which brings me on to the fact that I sent off for two books last weekend.  One is by Derek Garman called 'Modern Nature' and which covers extracts from his diaries.  I will give a quote or two down below.  The other is Timothy Darvill's 'Prehistoric Britain'.  

My introduction to prehistory came through Aubrey Burl, who wrote with a more humane interpretation of our ancestors.  Often with archaeological books they are too formal and listing such things as finds and the sequential nature of sections.  Burl went for the blood and guts, though of course it was all imagined by him.  

Saw this as a child, Dear old Hal.

to whom it may concern

in the dead stones of a planet

no longer remembered as earth

may he decipher this opaque hieroglyph

perform an archaeology of soul

on these precious fragments

all that remains of our vanished days

here - at the sea's edge

I have planted a stony garden

dragon tooth dolmen spring up

to defend the porch

steadfast warriors

Jarman likens his black pitch cottage to the house that flew into the air in 'The Wizard of Oz', this at the time of the Great storm of 1989 here in England.  Perhaps Jarman is following the yellow brick road like Dorothy.  Paul would have liked the poem above, but would have seen the mistake.  The 'dragon teeth' were flints from the shore they were used to shape the round beds of plants.  The dolmen means a tomb, a large flat stone laid on upright stones.

He also wrote of Sissinghurst gardens as without heart, must find the passage. It made me think why? was it the famous 'rooms' of the garden, each planting curtailed by hedges.  I never liked the white garden because basically the colour white has many shades (go to Ball and Farrow for their many white paints) but it is true what he said it has become National Trust bound and that of course makes the garden impersonal.

Sissinghurst Garden

Wrote this in 2010

14th September 2026 - Protect all sentient beings

 

A Boddhisattva.  A creature who protects all sentient beings before she thinks of her own welfare and entering Nirvana.  Or at least that is how I see her role. 

We have a spider in the bathroom, perfectly normal at this time of the year as they seek warmth but Lillie refuses to go into the room because of an innocuous spider, yes we do have another loo ;)

Such fear of Araneae is a fear many of us have.  I think it is because of the innumerable legs and the way they scuttle across a room or up a wall. I remember rescuing my first spider as a child with the old method of a glass and a sheet of strong paper.  I am sure the spider squeaked!

I told the tale the other day to my family about the monk who threw himself down to a mother tiger who was starving and trying to feed her young.  He sacrificed himself for the welfare of the tiger.

The above Boddhisattva sat in the garden in Normanby, you can see the paeony plant by her side, on the other side of the wall is of course the grave yard.  Living next to a grave yard gives you time for thought.  Yes I chatted to the people who came to tend their loved ones graves.  Christiana who lovingly attended her husband's grave, she now has also died.  There is the little baby somewhere in the centre, a stone teddy bear marks the little one's grave.  There is also a baby buried under the East window but it was many years ago.

Traditional burial is becoming less normal now, our ashes thrown to the wind or sea.  In Switzerland the children's great grand parent's graves are no more.  A thirty year rule says the land can be reused.

Enough on dwelling on death.  Matilda has  arrived back from her holiday her feet back on solid English ground.  She has survived hiking, looking quite cheerful in the photos.

My daughter and Andrew are off camping this week, down Weymouth way I think, they will also see Andrew's three adult children. No rain but the weather will be cooler.  They are also to see an old friend who was our neighbour  in Calne on the way, where we once lived.

And to end, not quite on a cheery note.  Though I find Kate Bush's voice slightly peculiar I love her music and songs.  And of course in 'Heathcliff' some of the video was filmed here on the moors.  Wuthering Heights is a strange and haunting story, the moors definitely got to Emily Bronte.  Their often dour aspect making an impression on her young mind and the scorching or perhaps smouldering passion that existed between Heathcliff and Catherine is well shown in this video.  There is something weird about thinking of Emily Bronte creating a story on these upland moors.

 An old favourite  - Aerial - Sea of Honey album

12th September 2026

 I'm just not woke I am awake 

Two phrases struck me yesterday, the first is already there above, the second was by Alistair Stewart - the theatre of cruelty.  Alistair was talking about the incident at Reform's annual get together when a climate activist was hit by a walking stick and had her hair tugged fiercely by older people, the demagogue who underlie the Reform Party.  It is probably not a party that will succeed, Farage is on the ropes with his acceptance of donated money.  Tice and Jenrick of course adds to the hate filled atmosphere of the party.  Strikingly contemptuous words from the platform, the girl activist was mocked by one of the leaders,  and to paraphrase the words, questioned the girl did she go to university and had studied sociology.  Well I also did an 'A' level in sociology and I am 'awake' as to what goes on in my world.  The contempt for the intellectual is of course a sign of Fascism, destroy those that think, authoritinarism must rule.

What else, a marvellously long essay by Rebecca Solnit on 9/11, who points out that it was the people of New York who acted with such bravery.  Helping others, the mass evacuation by boats, the firemen going into the building and rescuing risking their own lives, and the 'little old lady' who stooped to help a man to his feet who had been pushed over by a panicking crowd. That man did he learn to live with hate of the evil forces that had attacked his country.  No, he went on to try to understand the people who were behind this dreadful deed.  And yes that is where we all must go, not killing, killing, killing.  Remember that 60's slogan make love not war (well not too much we already have a full quota of humans on the Earth!)

In all truth we govern ourselves, our doctors and nurses respond without question, our firemen and police wade into trouble without questioning the danger and educators suffer the wearisome task of trying to teach our children a moral code - they are all good people. 

 Those that have a moral code definitely do not question the need to rescue the illegal immigrants that try to reach our shores.  The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is there to save lives at sea.  It should not be part of any thuggish behaviour by the criminal WASPs who live within our country ;)

I have been rather frank which is embarrassing to a person who just loves a quiet life.  Almost to the point that I need to go off somewhere and secretly write what I think, or, perhaps just watch You Tube videos of people living their lives in the best way they could.

This and that

 

Hugo, the tallest Shire horse in the world and he still has time to grow a little more.  Standing at 6.5 feet to the withers.  He shines with health and love.  It brings back George Stubbs who painted horses for a living.  Stubbs painting of a lion attacking a terrified horse still remains in my memory.

What else?  The Devil's Arrow stones  at Boroughbridge.  The place they came from is now recorded as Brimham Rocks and not Plumpton Rocks.  Whatever, these four stones were dragged overland to be sunk into the ground and perhaps the stones that lead you to that most sacred landscape in Yorkshire.....

ref link 

Note: tall stones were obviously the most treasured possessions of the Neolithic people in this part of Yorkshire as the Rudston monument testifies.

There are extensive prehistoric remains west of the stones which confirm they formed a southern gateway to a vast, sacred region between the rivers Swale and Ure, home to seven late-Neolithic henges.  Something to think on, Julian Cope of The Modern Antiquarian book always said that the River Ure was a very sacred place.

Looking up this Old English word  UR and it could seem to mean water.  But then again you could be awash in the beguiling task of trying to arrive at some conclusion when you read the scholars threshing out its meaning.  

The point made though about the stones coming from Brimham reminded me we had gone to this strange rocky outcrop on a visit and wandered through.  Now this is not woo-woo but I did not like those rocks they had a scary look.  Stone can often have a magnetic pull, and this feeling can be put down to this, a perfectly logical explanation.  But for me I  have had the same sort of reaction to an outcrop of stones nearer home - The Bridestones.

I think it is their formation, they are scarred by the glaciers that were once a feature of the landscape and stand in odd shapes.  It can easily be seen why the Neolithic people worshipped them.

I have looked up my blog on Brimham Rocks here, and the stones are indeed weirdly shaped, I wonder why I am so much unease with them?

One last personal story ;) Marc did not get run over by a tank but a military vessel, you know I am a stickler for truth - The result was just as bad of course, the doctor on looking down on Marc's broken body when he was wheeled into the hospital waivered as to whether he should be sent down to the mortuary.  Luckily they chose to mend him.

And perhaps the last but not least important remembering of today.  It is the 25th anniversary of 9/11 when the rogue Al-Caeda terrorists hijacked four American planes and crashed into the two towers and two other places,  I believe almost 3000 people died as a result of that terrible crime.  All I remember on the day that it happened was the television showing over and over again the moment of impact as the planes crashed into the towers.  Many a tale of courage and strength but there were also some terrible scenes.  It cannot be glossed over as a memory but it must be remembered.

Hmmm

Photos; Not many.  Trying to get a few from Lillie.  It is surprising what sun will do to heighten the blue of the sky and lake.  Forgot to get a photo of the two seahorse mermaids statues going down to the lake, a favourite of mine.

General mistiness over the lake, and not so much snow when we were there.
From the internet

The family at Montreux.
Daughter's photo

Tom and Ellie

 

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Hotel we stayed in, recommended, very friendly and spotlessly clean rooms
from the internet

Double decker train

Graffiti. Usual stuff but some of the trains seem to have it done professionally on their sides.

9th September 2026

Thank you Ed Millbrand for being so brave.  He made a speech in Parliament which should have been made many moons ago. So Ed Miliband thank you for talking out straight.  Also for Hind Rajab,(a child one carries in one's heart) wherever her spiritual home is.  The speech by Miliband starts around nine minutes in by the way.

Edstone to Elder Statesman

A tale of Two Cousins - Swiss Visit

 The tale of two cousins  For that is what it is.  IS is a word I can contemplate, our existence is in the moment, for a brief second, and then also a millions of other seconds we exist for the world to see.

So it is with this trip, I visited my sister-in-law in her well appointed apartment, her life like mine slowly coming to a rest and she sits within her world happy and I think content.  Though of course her 'contentedness' might be in my imagination.

Then there is my daughter's cousin, Marc.  I remember him as a child, fierce and excitable.  He is a big bear of a man now, gentle and looking after the family with great kindness. He reminds me of his great grandfather Con, and I realise  that those early teachings of grandparent have fruition in their children. 

Also everyone I am an aunt to this paragon of virtue, I must also realise my duties quite seriously.  Probably I will just restrict it to good advice, but he seems to have managed without it for many years - fortunately.

Okay he managed to open a sushi factory in the middle of a sea starved country and we are all very proud of him and now he plays golf, and I managed to be quiet about how golf courses don't grow food for the poor.  But I can keep my 'socialism' under wraps for the time being.

As we all dined out in a large group, there were ten of us, Marc explored the grandchildren's lives.  There is my glampuss Matilda with her partner Lucien, Marc now calls Lucien 'The Mathematician'.  Matilda and Lucien make a lovely couple ;) But leave us to visit Lucien's parents on holiday.  They are supposed to go 'serious' hiking but no one believes Matilda will make it.

 Then there is Ellie and Tom, married but a year ago and deeply in love.  Off in October to explore a part of the world for six months.  There is talk of eating insects and spiders in these Asian countries.  Fancy eating the furry legs of a tarantula spider? 

There is Ben fresh back from Milan and serving the needs, or photoshop, for his famous racing car driver and talking about taking up golf. God he has grown up that lad.  Though there was the incident of the midnight train he panicked on.  Which he was convinced would not stop in Vevey but go on to Sion.  It did stop and then the chat group went silent for the night and we all slept.  Another one safe in the fold.

Lillie was at her happiest, drinking her coffee down by the lake and ordering us all around.  She fetched stuff from Migros and the Co-op, almost as if it was a home from home.

There was my daughter immensely proud of her family and as we talked, walking beside the magnificent lake with the mountains in the background (it really is a Swiss Riveria) we talked of a dynasty that has suddenly developed over time.  She is justly proud of her little clan, and as I am of her.

But Andrew I am not forgetting you, for your organising of the whole affair, for Ubers and travel times for planes. Without Andrew I doubt the whole thing would not have become reality.  For just being there and supporting my daughter, thank you.  You are a joyous addition to the family.

Vevey is a sweet little town, full of small pedestrianised lanes.  Switzerland is so much more glamourous than old messy England. Paul would have loved it, it would have reminded him of mooching around Kyoto.  The quiet intimacy of a small  town slaked in history. The weather went down so quickly as we bumped into Manchester airport - cold and rainy. We had been blessed with very warm weather in Switzerland.  

Nearly every one swam in the lake, the ferry boat still caused wakes of waves in the water as it went by, tooting its horn.  And the little baby gannets that floated round the rocks had the same sound as the curlews up on the moors.

There is one more person I must not forget and that is Jeannot,  Annabel's husband.  He was with us as well, bless Marc for being there for everyone.

General impressions will come later.  Marc had calculated I had lived 30,000 days on this planet, calculate your lifetime and philosophically ask yourselves.  What did I do in all those days upon this Earth;)  Perhaps you should have followed a different star but I don't believe in regret.  Life just happens be grateful for it.

Edit: Whilst walking alongside the lake at Montreux there was a display for the late Freddie Mercury's 80th Birthday on the 5th September.  Music was booming out, gold balloons floating in the air and people photographing like mad.  Not me sadly.  Did you know that his real name was Farrokh Bulsara, not sure why the celebration was happening in Montreux.

Hopefully a small video

Taking a break

 Taking a break.  It will be for a few days.  Nothing much to write about and off to Switzerland for the weekend for family gathering.  Slightly nervous about meeting my former SIL* but apart from that there will be the lake and the mountains to see.

Just need my phone to be set at roaming and worry if my debit/credit cards will open ;)

Noticed this piece of news this morning, Conscious Eating in Bhutan, a place I would have liked to have visited one day just for its spiritual message.  The country of course, like the rest of us, has been traumatised by the terrible tragedy happening in nearby Nepal.  Nature can be very vicious and one can only feel humble at the way people rush, often into dangerous conditions, to save the lives of other people.

* I am nervous over most things, even posting my blogs for goodness sake.

28th August 2026

 Let me start by saying I do not like Chris Packham, his messages of doom haunt me daily.  Sometimes I think, heaven forbid, that he takes on his gloom and doom message for a paying job in his life.  But the evidence of what he says is all around us and has been there  for years.

So when a National Emergency Briefing  email headed by him came through calling for instructions, and information, as to what was going to happen should such an emergency develop that I signed  a government petition.  It has probably resulted in the government message we received yesterday about stocking food and water (they were listening!!).

We discussed it at the meal yesterday evening, in actual fact it it normal for the Swiss to have a fortnight reserve of food in their cupboards and I am sure we could fulfil that today with what is in our cupboard.  Drinking water of course is probably the most important and tins of beans (We have a whole shelf full sadly).

What with the Russians boats lurking around our shores, probably there just to cause unease.  The idiot in the USA, and the Climate breaking down we should be worried.  Before anyone jumps up to say it that Climate breakdown is all in the imagination, don't bother, I have heard it before.  The signs and warnings are there in purely scientific terms.

Just to cheer things up, we had a small emergency this morning.  Lillie went off to work early, leaving a cheap charger working on her bed.  The mattress caught fire, or at least smouldered down about 8 inches under the charger.  Of course the smell of burning alerted my daughter.  But the moral there is, don't just buy stuff because it is cheap and sold as marvellous and don't leave chargers in flammable places.  But as my daughter said all mattresses are fire retardant now.

26th August 2026

 An obituary written by Rebecca Solnit.  It is written in praise of Dolly Parton who has just died sadly.

"she was a goddess of the other kinds of love, of empathy, compassion, kindness, and to use a term from Thich Nhat Hanh, interbeing. "She was the voluptuous embodiment of empathy," her friend and 9 to 5 costar Jane Fonda said today."

Many of the old singers are coming to rest in their graves, this is the other pact of life, it is death.  And though we may not welcome it, it is perhaps wise to look at what Dolly Parton gave to the world in her extravagance.  

Kindness and empathy has often been outlawed to a smaller word 'woke', which calls all people who ask for compassion for their fellow human beings as somehow being wrong. and those that attack use short shallow words to describe that which they hate.  But Dolly Parton set out on a mission to get children to read, to be educated in the ways of the world and somehow what she wanted is to be seen in the young people of today.  

So as an icon of gaiety and goodness she should be remembered.

Impressive Art

 

Not much to write about but I thought I would nudge up Manchester, after all it has become the Number 10 of the North.  I saw a funny news item on that.  No.10 North has its office in a local council business where the registration of marriages take place.  The bride to be Sarah Burwin had asked Burnham to stay away on her big day, especially his security.  Burnham sent a Tiktok message saying that he would.  You can see the exchange here

You may be wondering what that photo is up top for.  Well AI Weiwei is in town with his latest showing of his art work.  Weiwei is a well known Chinese artist, also a political dissident or activist.  But his fame  as a well known artist protects him.  I don't know if anyone remembers the sunflower seeds at the Tate, it was a puzzle but you have to look at it with a different frame of mind to understand.  Though reading about him in Wikipedia, a very long read, shows a very varied life.

Ai Weiwei’s work is widely recognized as a form of civic resistance, confronting injustice and authoritarianism. His installations often expose government failures, censorship, and abuses of power. 

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Sunflower seeds at the Tate

It was Karen and Andrew who visited the artwork at the Aviva Studios at the Factory International over the weekend.  They were totally impressed by his work.  The famous 'Japanese Wave of Hokusai' which you can see in the following video is just made up of lego.

Edit;  Smell of Water or Ironpolis has come up with another fabulous find in North Yorkshire. A 'lintelled' Hogsback over the doorway.  And the door to the All Saints church in Crathorne was open allowing him to see what other finds were inside.

Wharram

 

St. Martins church, Wharram Percy.  Deserted Medieval Village

You can find some extra photos here and a blog.  Feeling lazy today and rather love going over old blogs.  This one was stimulated by Yorkshire Pudding's visit to Rudston Monument. This site is also in East Yorkshire not far from the tallest stone in the land. The  Wharram Percy DMV had been excavated for many years and is a fine example of a DMV, fairly unscathed by later development.  It sits in the countryside, a mile or so away from the road and was gloriously peaceful.

The finer details of carved stone remains for many centuries. but this church had five restorations during it's lifetime.  I wonder who stole the roof?  The 18th empty farmhouse is complete, Pat/Weaver said no one would live in it for all the ghosts that inhabited the place.  Again stories lurk in the old church and farmhouse.  I would have liked to go back to find the atmosphere of the place.  This first photo is of Paul meditating? in the sun and always reminds me of the riddle he gave me.  'What is the sound of one hand clapping?'

Water and a birthday

 

The rain has been a-raining all night.  It has been pottering down the rain pipes, gurgling away to itself. Fulfilling its role to fill the streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.  Talk of cooler weather abounds the land. Rejoice in a temporary peace and quiet before El Nino slips in and starts playing a fool's game with the climate.

Locally it is my daughter's birthday today but she is happy enough, although she could not open her cards because she was not wearing glasses - but it comes to us all.  Andrew went off to London last night for a meeting, after a session of??? pummelling, beating or general wellbeing?  who knows.  Only that well being is the haven for those who are middle aged and then become old.  I reckon you just wear your body out quicker!

I am listening to Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine, and I am not happy with it. It is called timeline genre, running two stories together, one from the past and the present day.  Several authors have taken up this way of story writing.  It is slightly confusing and I see there is criticism about it as well.  I reckon Erkskine was enamoured with creating male lovers for her dual heroines.  There is history thrown in as well of course we are up at Dinas Castle at the moment in Wales, the place where two dragons fought, England and Wales of course.

Now hopefully, having written a few words, blogger will recognise me and release me from the cage of anonymous.   From The River Dart, a few words of a poem by Alice Oswald.

 find you in the reeds,

a trickle coming out of a bank

a foal of a river
one step-width water
of linked stones
trills in the stones
glides in the trills
eels in the glides
in each eel
a finger width of sea,

19th August 2026

Talking to myself before I go for an injection.

 When I was young but working, I worked in a draughtsman's office, I was a tracer doing very boring drawings of machinery.  Today I asked what is a draughtsman, does it encompass the word artist for example.  After all the ability to reconstruct something on paper that looks exactly like the image in front of you would surely be seen as artistic, and often we use the word draftsman (two spellings) in that sense.

I let a lot of artworks slip through my search machine, after all, now we have super duper phone cameras why do we need to sit down and paint.  Yes there are a thousand answers to that!  What we like or do not like is a matter of subjective choice.  When the question came up about female botanical artists, who is your favourite, I can't name a name except perhaps Elizabeth Blackadder, and I am not entirely happy with her art work.

Elizabeth Blackadder

Botanical art has to be exact to give you the structure of the whole plant, so there must be the flower, seed head, leaf and stem for accurate recognition.  My plant book by Marjorie Blamey does that, with tiny little drawings of the various parts of the flower down the side of the margin.  But her drawings never strike me as artistic.  But by the same token I love Robinson's nineteenth's century 'English Flower Garden' for its steel engraved plates of their subject matter.  I suppose such work denotes craftmanship?  I also like Dutch paintings of flowers, more often than not set against a dark background, the vases often reveal a tumble of garden and wild flowers.

Rachel Rustch - 17th Century

So I suppose it comes down to what you want to hang on the wall to give most pleasure and for me to delve into the history of botanical female artists as well.  There is of course  the American artist Georgia O'Keefe, but rather flamboyant.

Murrmur in Substack

Wittering

 In my woke and green mood! I listened to a Green Party Witcher's Zoom meeting last night.  The person who leads the conversation is very good at sourcing her information but technically it took an age to get over the meeting functioning correctly.  Mostly down to her daughter's computer which decided to lose power at the beginning.

There is the space between how the wonders of computer land are sold to us and then there is the actuality of their performance when we use them.  The last meeting had been a talk about transforming your garden into being wildlife and insect friendly, this meeting was about drought.

Interestingly heat temperature has a significance on our insects, apart from killing them and we can take it as read that a certain amount of  our wildlife has died.  The badgers and hedgehogs would have had a hard time with trying to dig for worms in the dry soil, less water around in the rivers means it is much harder for the fish to survive.  Because of the heat flowers grow much quicker, and the sequential flow is too early for the pollinators and so flower misses insect.  Simply sad. 

I suspect that the fate of our wildlife does not find much sympathy in the world of humans, lack of wasps this year will be met with a certain amount of joy.  But wasps are pollinators as well.

Of course the answer is heat tolerant plants, the silver leafed plants will keep a garden filled.  Santolina, Rue, Wormwood, lavender, Southernwood  and even curry plant (though the smell is not welcome).  I wondered about Beth Chatto's garden in Essex, also a dry garden and found this online.  She lives with the driest of soil and uses gravel to create ponds of plants amongst it.

I had also been looking for the Derek Jarman's book on his garden.  Can't find Andrew's copy but is it wise to buy a second copy?  I love the cool of the white, is it Crambe Cordifolia - Sea Kale set amongst the shingle.  Jarman went wild with the Californian poppy and it also seeded itself everywhere.  I remember when new to gardening, I wanted to grow the yellow horned poppy that  only grows in a coastal environment - foolish!

Wiki photo

And last but not least - getting rid of the plain old boring lawns, which shrivel up in these hot droughty conditions. Sacrosanct, and I must admit you do need somewhere soft to sit in the garden.  Though you could head for a chamomile lawn, but forget the dogs and children if you do.

I remember when Rob came to mow our lawn in Normanby, I would tell him to mow round the bluebells, hen and chicken plants and even the tiny violets.  He never minded....

Notes. Paste and copy: Insects are highly sensitive to heat, with effects ranging from increased metabolism and aggression to cellular damage and death, depending on species and environmental conditions.

Wasps: The recent summer has seen a notable scarcity of wasps in Britain, attributed to a combination of challenging meteorological conditions. The season began with warm, dry weather that typically favours queen wasps as they emerge from winter dormancy. However, this was disrupted by an abrupt shift to cold and damp conditions, nearly freezing temperatures during May evenings, which could prove fatal to queens or destroy fledgling colonies before they could become established. Additionally, multiple heatwaves struck the country, further impacting the wasp population. 

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